TrekMovie.comthe source for Star Trek news and information2018-03-19T04:21:36Zhttps://trekmovie.com/feed/atom/WordPresshttps://trekmovie.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/cropped-TrekMovie_Profile_Square-32x32.pngTrekMovie.com Staffhttp://https://trekmovie.com/?p=543702018-03-19T03:22:50Z2018-03-19T03:22:50ZIn December it was reported that the Star Trek film project based on a pitch from Quentin Tarantino would be R-Rated, however in a new red carpet interview from today’s Empire Awards, Star Trek actor (and co-writer of Star Trek Beyond) Simon Pegg adds doubt to that previous report. Talking to Hey U Guys, Pegg said

I don’t think he’s written an R-rated Star Trek script. I think what happened is he went to [Star Trek producer] J.J. [Abrams] with an idea that he has had for a while – I remember he told us about it a long time ago. I think he told me and Edgar [Wright], about it a long time ago. He just put it to J.J. and J.J. is considering putting it into a writing room. We got an email just saying “Guess who came in the office the other day!” So, I don’t know much about it, other than the fact that it is sort of in the mix. So, we will see.

Pegg didn’t offer an opinion on Tarantino’s take on Star Trek, but recently his Trek co-star Karl Urban said it is important to “remain open” to the idea of different take on the franchise, even if that includes the “swearing, more graphic violence or sex” commonly associated with Tarantino’s films. John Cho has also expressed interest, noting he wants to the chance to do “Quentin Tarantino dialog, as Sulu.”

You can watch the full red carpet interview below.

Pegg presents Spielberg’s Lifetime Award

Simon Pegg was at the Empire Awards to present the Legend of Our Lifetime to director Steven Spielberg. Pegg appears in Speilberg’s new film Ready Player One, which opens March 29. Sir Patrick Stewart picked up the same Legend Award at last year’s ceremony.

]]>9TrekMovie.com Staffhttp://https://trekmovie.com/?p=543672018-03-19T04:21:36Z2018-03-19T02:22:39ZThe Empire Awards took place today in London and Jason Isaacs won for Best Actor in a TV Series for his role as Captain Gabriel Lorca in Star Trek: Discovery. He beat out competition from Alexander Skarsgård (Big Little Lies), Kyle MacLachlan (Twin Peaks: A Limited Event Series), Matt Smith (The Crown), and Dan Stevens (Legion). Isaacs’ win is Discovery’s first award trophy for 2018, although there are still more opportunities at the upcoming at the GLAAD and Saturn Awards.

Isaacs talks Trek fans

Jason Isaacs wasn’t in London to pick up his Empire Award, but the actor has been in the US over recent weeks promoting the release of his new film The Death of Stalin (with happened to win Best Comedy at the Empire Awards today). In an interview with Chicago’s ThirdCoastReview, the actor also talked a bit of Trek:

You’re involved in the “Star Trek” universe now. How special is that for you?
It’s amazing. Obviously I’ve been in the Harry Potter films, so I know what fandom is like. I’ve met some of the fabulous, passionate fans, but they’ve only been fans since the year 2000. There are many people I’ve met now who have been obsessed with “Star Trek” for 50 years. It’s overwhelming, but it’s a new and wonderful thing. Jonathan Frakes, who played Riker [on “Star Trek: The Next Generation”] and directed some of our episodes, has been my guide and mentor though the madness of it all, and he persuaded me to sign up for some of the truly extraordinary “Star Trek” experiences like going on a “Star Trek” cruise with fans. I said to him, “I can’t imagine anything worse.” He said, “I did it, and it’s great, and you’re coming.” It’s a very eclectic bunch of people, as you would imagine, who have in common only that they love “Star Trek” for different reasons—some of them because they like the ships and uniforms, some of them like the philosophy—but they are drawn from a very, very interesting pool, that’s for sure.

Latif: Discovery Season 2 starts production in May

Discovery’s Klingon-turned-human, Ash Tyler – Shazad Latif (who has already been confirmed for season two) was on hand at the Empire Awards and speaking to Empire on the red carpet the actor gave an update on the second season of Discovery saying “We start again in May. We get scripts late, probably the night before we start filming.”

]]>13Laurie Ulsterhttps://trekmovie.com/?p=543562018-03-17T05:33:40Z2018-03-16T18:15:22ZStar Trek: Enterprise star Connor Trinner can be seen in the recently released online series Stargate: Origins. The actor appears in the latest episode of the Alpha Quadrant podcast to talk to Aron Eisenberg and Garrett Wang about his return to the Stargate franchise and also discuss his time as Charles “Trip” Tucker III on Enterprise.

Connor Trinneer in Stargate Origins

Auditioning for ‘Enterprise’ was “Brutal”

Trinneer described a lengthy audition process to land the job of Trip on Enterprise, describing a number of callbacks and delays in getting word from Paramount. He described it as the worst audition process he had ever been through, and he later learned his was the worst among the cast:

I had never been through the ringer like it was for [Enterprise]. And the scope of audition process was really varied for our show. Apparently, they just tapped Dominic [Keating], knowing they wanted to play that guy. I think Jolene [Blalock] walked in and they went “Yeah, you. You’re in.” And [John] Billingsley was easy and I don’t remember Anthony’s [Montgomery] situation, but when I told my story, they were like “Holy cow!” Brutal. Brutal.

Garrett Wang described his audition process as equally challenging. It took eight weeks with six auditions total. After it was narrowed down to him and one other actor, and the other actor was sent home, they kept him on hold while they started looking for older actors. They then whittled it down to Wang and one of those finalists, and finally, he got the part.

Connor Trinner with the Enterprise cast

Creating Trip as a NASCAR guy from Oklahoma

The actor said that a key to making his character relatable can be attributed to his lack of Star Trek awareness, saying:

That’s a testament to me not really knowing much about Star Trek and not being intimidated. I had not seen anything but The Original Series. I had never watched The Next Generation. I had nothing to go on and then I realized I was on to something. It becomes clear when you are – like the writers will say something – especially when you are doing your first few episodes. Then I was like “I am not going to watch it. Because I didn’t really didn’t know what kind of animal I was a part of until much later and by that point Trip was already Trip.”

Trinneer revealed he developed the voice for Trip based on a character from Oklahoma from a play he had done, adding he was surprised when the writers later established the character was from Florida. The actor also talked about how he thought of Trip in terms he could understand, noting:

What my idea was, is that he was a wonderkind NASCAR engine guy mechanic who happened to be in this other place. So I modeled after that, which I can relate.

When asked if he saw a bit of DeForest Kelley’s Leonard McCoy in his role, the actor agreed, but said it wasn’t something he was prepared for when he got the role.

The whole Kirk, Spock, and McCoy thing was the triumvirate and not dissimilar to the Captain, T’Pol, and Trip. Which was also something I had no idea about when I got the job. I was like “Dude, I’m playing the engineer. I’m gonna work like twice a week and learn how to surf.” I opened that pilot script and was like “Oh, you got to put your hat on.”

Connor Trinneer in Enterprise publicity photo

Diagnosing cancellation and talking series finale

When discussing why Star Trek: Enterprise was cancelled after four seasons, Trinneer pointed to scheduling issues with the network (UPN) as well as losing a major corporate backer for the show early on:

The problem was that for the nights that we were on, usually your Major League Baseball team was also on UPN locally. So, we would get preempted by whatever local sports were happening. There were also entire regions – it didn’t even play in St. Louis, Scott [Bakula’s] home town. So, you had these pockets of where it wasn’t even on.

And then [Paramount Television Chairman] Kerry McCluggage got fired, our real fan, really quick [December, 2001]. And then the new regime came in and it was probably as early as the second season when we were like “Huh?” I don’t think we got any lesser ratings than anyone else, but Next Generation. I think we all kind of sat in that same area.

Trinneer noted that during the run of the show he refused to “live in the worry box” over cancellation and it only really hit him when they got notice of the cancellation late in the production of the fourth season, but his bigger concern at the time was for the crew, many of whom had been working on Star Trek since the late 80s on The Next Generation.

As for the controversial series finale (“These Are the Voyages”) including guest appearances from TNG actors Jonathan Frakes and Marina Sirtis, Trinneer didn’t actually have any issues, adding:

“That didn’t bother me at all. We were done.”

Connor Trinneer with Jonathan Frakes in the Enterprise series finale

Full Alpha Quadrant episode

Check out the full Alpha Quadrant podcast with Connor interviewed by Star Trek: Voyager‘s Garrett Wang and Deep Space Nine‘s Aron Eisenberg, covering Stargate Origins, playing George W. Bush in a movie with Tom Cruise, and more.

]]>73TrekMovie.com Staffhttp://https://trekmovie.com/?p=543502018-03-15T20:34:21Z2018-03-15T22:05:17ZIf you ever wanted to learn Klingon, today is a good day to try. Duolingo has launched their own Klingon language course. There has been a lot of anticipation for this new course for the popular language learning platform since they first announced they were working on it 3 years ago.

Like all of Duolingo’s courses, The Klingon course was created by a small team of volunteers using their incubator platform. In a statement, Klingon course leader Felix Malmenbeck said:

“Many Star Trek fans become curious about the Klingon language at some point, but learning a language takes time, energy and regular practice, especially when you’re just starting out. Therefore, if the language isn’t one of your primary interests, chances are you’ll end up investing that energy elsewhere, whether it’s cosplay, fan fiction, reading novels or any of the multitude of forms that fandom can take.

The Duolingo course should help lower that barrier to entry by giving people a simple way to get regular exercise with the language. I suspect that this will lead to an increased number of Star Trek fans continuing their studies of Klingon. It also helps that Star Trek: Discovery has taken the language very seriously, meaning that there is now a stronger connection between the show and the language.”

The free course allows you to learn at your own pace, starting at lessons as short as 5 minutes a day.

From the starting lesson in Klingon

Duolingo offers 30 language courses to over 200 million users globally. Klingon joins High Valyrian (from Game of Thrones) as the second “conlang” offered by Duolingo.

]]>13TrekMovie.com Staffhttp://http://trekmovie.com/?p=543312018-03-15T20:53:03Z2018-03-15T19:58:34ZStar Trek: Netflix has reached another height, specifically 115,000 feet (35,000 meters). Last week Netflix hosted their annual “Hack Day” event, which gives their employees a chance to take a break and experiment with new technologies.

One of the projects celebrated Discovery being on Netflix in 190 countries around the world. To do this, some Netflix engineers sent an iPhone playing Discovery into space using a meteorological balloon. You can see the result and some behind the scenes action in a video posted by the team.

As a nod to a well-known spacefaring industrialist, we thought it’d be fun to see if we could watch Netflix in space. We did this with an iPhone with downloaded Netflix content, a GoPro camera to watch the phone and the Earth, some heaters (lithium batteries don’t work well at -60°C / -76°F!), and an avionics package which measured GPS location, altitude, temperature, and pressure. All of this was hoisted to the heavens by a helium-filled meteorological balloon which reached an altitude of approximately 35,000 meters / 115,000 feet, at which you can see the curvature of the earth and the blackness of outer space. A special thanks goes to the Stanford Student Space Initiative for helping us out with this hack.

Star Trek: Discovery is available exclusively in the USA on CBS All Access. It airs in Canada on the Space Channel and streams on CraveTV. It is available on Netflix everywhere else.

]]>10TrekMovie.com Staffhttp://http://trekmovie.com/?p=543322018-03-16T19:11:01Z2018-03-15T17:50:34ZThe nominations for the 44th Saturn Awards were announced today, and Star Trek: Discovery was one of the leading shows in the television categories with a total of five nominations. In addition, two Star Trek acting vets have been nominated for their film work, in the same category.

‘The Orville’ picks up 3 nominations

Our adopted show The Orville was also honored by the Saturns with a total of three nominations. As seen in the above list, the show picked up Best Actor and Actress nominations for Seth MacFarlane and Adrianne Palicki. In addition the show was nominated for Best Science Fiction Television Series. You can see the full list of nominees for that category below.

NOTE: For the Saturn Awards, shows on streaming services (Netflix, Hulu, CBS All Access, and Amazon) have their own category “Best New Media Television Series,” and don’t compete in the Best Horror, Science Fiction or Fantasy Television Series categories.

Seth MacFarlane and Adrianne Palicki both nominated for Saturn Awards for The Orville

20TrekMovie.com Staffhttp://https://trekmovie.com/?p=543362018-03-15T18:19:20Z2018-03-15T15:19:06ZLast month we reported that Star Trek Online was planning on offering players the chance to get their personal ships turned into actual models through a partnership with the integral reality company, Mixed Dimensions using their “new GamePrint technology. Today, Perfect World and Cryptic rolled out the new feature for PC players, along with more pricing, details, photos and a video showing how it is done.

According to the announcement, the handcrafted resin starship collectibles can be delivered almost anywhere around the world and base pricing will begin at $200, depending on size and customization options.

Starting today, Star Trek Online players can bring their starships to life, using Mixed Dimensions’ proprietary 3D printing solution along with the hand craftsmanship from a team of master artists. After customizing their ships in the PC version of Star Trek Online, players will discover an option to upload their ship design directly to the GamePrint website.

Star Trek Online Pathfinder long range science vessel

Players are able to select from three different purchase options (Costs for all three options may vary according to ship size and customizations):

Collectible Version – Base Price: $350: Captains can commission one of the company’s master artists to hand-paint a premium, full-colored resin model of their starship, which includes detailed shading. Exceptional artistry and focus is placed on each individual ship.

Pathfinder collectible

Single Color Version – Base Price: $225: Players can order a 3D-printed model of their starship, painted in either gold, silver, bronze or black. The model is polished, finished and ready for display.

Primer Version – Base price: $200: Model painters and hobbyists can order a primed model of their favorite starship, coated in a base layer of primer and ready to be painted.

Pathfinder primer version

All starships will be delivered in customized packaging and include an exclusive Star Trek Online-branded display stand. For more info, including limited time introductory pricing, visit gameprint.net.

]]>7Matt Wrighthttps://trekmovie.comhttp://trekmovie.com/?p=543192018-03-15T02:13:58Z2018-03-15T01:32:19ZThe second season of The Orvillestarted production a few weeks ago and social media has allowed cast and crew a chance to tease the public with their progress. They haven’t dropped any major spoilers, but we have found out a few things about what is coming.

Robert Picardo returns to The Orville

Star Trek: Voyager veteran Robert Picardo, who plays security chief Alara Kitan’s father Ildis Kitan, is back shooting scenes for season 2. This was revealed in a tweet by creator Seth MacFarlane yesterday, thanking the cast and crew.

From an Instagram video by star J. Lee we saw that episode 2 of the season is titled “Home” and is written by Cherry Chevapravatdumrong, who also wrote “Firestorm” in season 1, which introduced us to Alara’s parents. So it seems likely that “Home” will feature Alara’s parents, given the episode title, we assume the crew of the Orville will be visiting Alara’s home planet of Xelaya.

Alara’s father and mother as seen in the season 1 episode “Firestorm”

Jessica Szohr’s character is probably an alien

As we covered last month, actress Jessica Szohr was added to the cast for season 2. So far, no details of her character have been announced, not even her name. However, thanks to an Instagram Story video, we can see Szohr getting the full green goo lifecast treatment, so the makeup artists can create a custom fit alien makeup appliance.

Neil deGrasse Tyson visits set

Well-known astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson recently stopped by The Orville set. He was likely on the Fox lot working on the upcoming season of Cosmos, titled Cosmos: Possible Worlds. Seth MacFarlane was instrumental in getting Cosmos revived and is an executive producer, along with Brannon Braga. Actor Mike Henry (Dann) shared a picture of himself with the Tyson on the bridge set.

Mysterious “legendary” guest alien teased

Once again an Instagram Story video from cast member J. Lee gives us a tease of someone in horned alien make up. The caption floating by says the mystery person is a “legend.” We’re not sure what that means, it could be someone from the comedy or sci-fi realm of entertainment.

New costumes and props

In yet another video posted on Instagram (and shared on Twitter) shows Scott Grimes (Gordon) wearing a different kind of jacket. It’s not clear if this is just for an episode, or possibly a Planetary Union uniform variant, possibly a dress uniform given the fancy bling on it.

A running gag in season 1 was that Bortus liked to sing, but we never heard him, something always happened to interrupt him. Bortus’ husband Klyden is played by actor Chad Coleman, who has taken to Instagram to serenade folks, we still don’t know about Bortus, but it sure seems like Klyden has the pipes for a USS Orville karaoke night.

]]>55Laurie Ulsterhttp://trekmovie.com/?p=543122018-03-14T16:41:55Z2018-03-14T16:34:05ZThe Star Trek community mourns the loss of renowned theoretical physicist and author Stephen Hawking, who died at his home in Cambridge, England, early this morning.

History-making guest appearance

Stephen Hawking is the only person to ever play himself in the history of the franchise. A longtime Star Trek fan, Hawking had toured the Star Trek: The Next Generation set during a visit to Paramount to shoot a promotional video for his bestselling book A Brief History of Time — and he made the very rare request to be taken out of his wheelchair so he could have a moment in Picard’s chair. He obviously enjoyed it, because after that he made a request (through Leonard Nimoy) to appear on the show, if there was ever a way that made sense.

Michael Piller was the one who came up with the idea of Data playing a holodeck poker game with intellectual giants, and the scene was written for The Next Generation episode “Descent.” It featured Hawking placing his bets against Data, Albert Einstein, and Sir Isaac Newton.

During filming, Hawking toured the set again, and upon seeing the warp core in engineering, commented, “I’m working on that.” No doubt.

Stephen Hawking on the set of the USS Enterprise

In his foreword to Lawrence M. Krauss’ The Physics of Star Trek, Hawking wrote:

I was very pleased that Data decided to call Newton, Einstein, and me for a game of poker aboard the Enterprise. Here was my chance to turn the tables on the two great men of gravity, particularly Einstein, who didn’t believe in chance or in God playing dice. Unfortunately, I never collected my winnings because the game had to be abandoned on account of a red alert. I contacted Paramount studios afterward to cash in my chips, but they didn’t know the exchange rate.

Trek luminaries honor Professor Hawking

A number of Trek vets from in front and behind the camera tweeted their thoughts on the loss of this eloquent genius, including those who worked with on The Next Generation.

Farewell Stephen Hawking. A great man. Honored to have spent time with him. RIP.

We gave Mr. Hawking a tour of the TNG sets. @berman_rick pointed out the warp core & Mr. Hawking said, after a moment “I’m working on a space warp drive.” 1/2 of us laughed, 1/2 of us knew better. Re: the transporter set he said “What a way to beat LA traffic.” RIP Sir

TrekMovie offers our condolences to his family, his friends, and everyone who celebrated his tremendous contributions to our part of the galaxy.

“Science fiction like Star Trek is not only good fun but it also serves a serious purpose, that of expanding the human imagination. We may not yet be able to boldly go where no man (or woman) has gone before, but at least we can do it in the mind.”

Over 50 years ago, the world was first introduced to what would quickly become a cultural phenomenon. It was a television series that inspired developments in science and technology, broke social barriers and transported viewers around the globe to new adventures and uncharted frontiers. Now, STAR TREK: DISCOVERY follows in the footsteps of those that came before as it seeks to tackle social issues, inspire the next generation of dreamers and doers and reflect on Roddenberry’s vision of a hope for tomorrow.

The panel will be moderated by actress Mary Chieffo (L’Rell) and is being held on Saturday, March 24th in Room North 200A at 3:00 PM.

IDW Star Trek panel

Another WonderCon event of interest to Trek fans is the “IDW Publishing and Star Trek Comics: Keep on Trekkin'” panel. Here is the official description:

Focusing on all the great Star Trek comics coming out from IDW, panelists include group editor Sarah Gaydos, writers Mike Johnson, Kirsten Beyer (also a staff writer on the Star Trek: Discovery show), Scott Tipton, and David Tipton, and Trek fan-favorite artist J. K. Woodward.

The IDW Trek panel will be held Saturday March 24, 2018 at 10:00am in Room 211.

WonderCon 2018

WonderCon is being held at the Anaheim Convention Center in Anaheim, CA from March 23rd to 25th. More info at comic-con.org.

]]>27Iain Robertsonhttps://www.trekmovie.comhttp://trekmovie.com/?p=542722018-03-13T15:42:21Z2018-03-12T21:12:34ZAt the end of Star Trek: Discovery’sseason finale, the U.S.S. Discovery was en route to Vulcan to pick up its new captain, before being diverted from a distress call from the U.S.S. Enterprise. The name of this captain awaiting them on Vulcan was never mentioned, creating one of the many mysteries posed by the episode. So, who is this mystery captain? Could it be someone we are familiar with, either from Discovery or seen in Trek before? Let’s break down the possibilities.

Christopher Pike

At the time of the finale, the aforementioned U.S.S. Enterprise is under the command of Captain Christopher Pike. One intriguing possibility is that he was due to transfer to Discovery to assume command, but left Vulcan early to rendezvous with the Discovery. As a Starfleet veteran who has seen a lot of things – like the Talosian mission – he could surely teach Michael Burnham a lot. Showrunner Aaron Harberts indicated there is “something very exciting” about Pike, noting “we will never say never to exploring him a little bit more” in season two.

However, Trek lore has established James T. Kirk was the third captain of the Enterprise following Pike and April, and Kirk didn’t assume command until 2265, eight years after its rendezvous with Discovery. Assuming the Enterprise remained in commission during this period, Pike transferring to the Discovery would be a rather sizable departure from canon. We’re confident he’ll show up, but probably not as Discovery’s captain.

Number One

We don’t know much about what happened to Pike’s first officer (originally played by the great Majel Barrett Roddenberry) following “The Cage.” It’s entirely possible she was promoted to captain and assigned command of Discovery. Although a lieutenant in “The Cage,” by the time of David Mack’s Discovery novel, “Desperate Hours” she’d been promoted to commander (and given the name “Una”). The novels are being treated as semi-canon by the show’s team, so this may have been a precursor to her making captain.

Regardless, she’s a popular character, one relatively unexplored in Trek canon. Even though she was human, the character was portrayed as having a strictly logical outlook, something that was later adopted for Spock (and all Vulcans). It’s possible that like Michael Burnham, Number One also had Vulcan training and could provide for an interesting mentor for Michael.

Robert April

The Animated Series introduced Robert April as the first captain of the Enterprise in “The Counter-Clock Incident,” and he has already been name-dropped on Discovery, having appeared in Saru’s “Most Decorated Captains” list in “Choose Your Pain.” He would be around 60 at the time of Discovery, which is not too old for a captain in the 23rd century and provides the possibility of a sort of elder statesman figure for the show.

After turning over command of the Enterprise to Pike in 2250, he was promoted to commodore and became an ambassador-at-large. Being a commodore doesn’t preclude him from commanding a starship, as we’ve seen with the likes of Matt Decker and Robert Wesley, but being an ambassador presumably would. However, being that the Animated Series is a sort of canon gray area, there may be some wiggle room to introduce him as Discovery’s new captain.

Matt Decker

Matt Decker is another one from Saru’s “most decorated captains” list. By the time we meet Decker in “The Doomsday Machine,” he’s a broken man, having lost his entire crew to the planet killer. It’d be fun to see him before his fall. Plus sharp-eared viewers may have heard a mention of a Cadet Decker serving on Discovery in “Into The Forest I Go,” likely a reference to his son Will (Star Trek: The Motion Picture), meaning a family reunion could be in the cards.

However, Decker’s a man destined to go mad following the loss of his entire crew. While this lurking potential dark side to the character is intriguing, it may be too close to what we have already seen for Lorca.

T’Pol

Occam’s razor indicates the captain waiting on Vulcan would be a Vulcan and this could bring up all sorts of character dynamic possibilities for Discovery. One Vulcan some fans have speculated about is Archer’s first officer from the NX-01. T’Pol would be in her late 160s, which is a plausible age for long-lived Vulcans (the elderly T’Pol that appeared in “E2” was actually older). Last seen in 2161 as a commander, it’s possible she could still be in Starfleet, or maybe returned for the war.

There’s also the question of whether Jolene Blalock would return. She’s semi-retired from acting, and has never been very active on the convention scene. She lives in California with her husband (Live Nation CEO Michael Rapino) and their three children, so committing to a series shooting in Toronto is unlikely.

Garth of Izar

One of Starfleet’s most prominent captains of the pre-TOS era, Garth was a legendary starship commander, who was later promoted to fleet captain, before his descent into madness (as seen in “Whom Gods Destroy”). He was a renowned tactician and explorer, having charted more new worlds than anyone in history. His victory at the Battle of Axanar was required reading during Kirk’s time at Starfleet Academy, and he was a hero to the young cadet.

He’s been a popular character in Trek literature over the years, and we’d like to learn more about him. His path towards megalomania could be a fun area to explore. However, he also comes with the same (and possibly more) ‘tragic end’ baggage and Lorca-like tendencies as Decker.

Alexander Marcus

Whatever you may think of Into Darkness, it’s hard to disagree that Peter Weller’s Admiral Marcus was an interesting character. The nefarious head of Starfleet could have been another of Trek’s one-note misguided admirals, but Weller gave us something more complex: a man who was prepared to completely corrupt the ideals of the Federation – including starting a war with the Klingons – in order to preserve his version of it.

We know nothing about his Prime counterpart, though. Presumably Marcus is out there somewhere, and with the numerous similarities between the two timelines, quite probably in Starfleet. A captain with a laser-like focus bordering on obsessive is something that we have seen in Trek and could introduce good character drama with the crew we know. However, it’s unlikely (and possibly precluded) for CBS to be using characters created solely for Paramount’s Trek films. This would strike off others like Captains Robau, Styles, and Terrell as well.

Saru

At the time of the season finale, Saru is still acting captain of the U.S.S. Discovery and it’s possible that the arrival of the Enterprise could send the ship off on some new diversion that extends his time in the chair and could lead to him being promoted and made permanent captain. His leadership in the later episodes of the first season was well-regarded, which would undoubtedly make him a popular choice. And his sibling rivalry with Michael Burnham could see a new angle as her ambition returns, now that she has been reinstated.

Saru is a fan favorite, and has grown to be one of the show’s more interesting characters, and that may actually work against him being made captain. Saru fits into the mold of previous Trek characters like Data and Odo, who are able to make a commentary on humanity from their positions as “the other.” Moving him into a leadership position could possibly diminish that core aspect of the character.

Gabriel Lorca (Prime)

While the mirror version we know and love is (we presume) dead, we don’t know for certain what happened to the prime universe’s Lorca. Cornwell speculated that he died in the Mirror Universe, but that’s by no means definitive. Should the writers wish, it wouldn’t be too hard to bring him back, something that would no doubt go down well with fans. Obviously Lorca is not the captain awaiting the Discovery on Vulcan, so this is another possibility that would arise from the diversion introduced by the surprise appearance of the Enterprise.

Lorca is one of the standouts from the first season; a complex, darker figure than we were used to being in command. (Until he went all Mirror Universe on us.) It would be interesting to see how the Prime version stacks up to his Mirror counterpart. However, it could also be a bit of been there, done that, even if it is actually a totally different character. There is also the practical aspect of Jason Isaacs being a very busy man, currently filming the second season of Netflix’s The OA. Much as we love him, he’s an in-demand guy, and we’re not sure he’d want to spend the next few years tied down to one show. But, we won’t be surprised to see him show up for an episode or two.

Katrina Corwnwell

Another possibility that may arise from a change of orders from the original planned rendezvous on Vulcan is Admiral Cornwell. She has become a favorite character for many fans. While she’s currently an admiral, she was also involved in a plan to commit the genocide of the Klingon race by working with Emperor Georgiou. So, perhaps her punishment is a demotion to captain (not unlike Admiral Kirk in The Voyage Home).

Her time in the captain’s chair during “The War Without, the War Within” introduced some interesting dynamics with both Saru and Burnham and a demotion gives her character an interesting redemption arc. However, the show spent much of season one developing Cornwell as the window to Starfleet and Federation leadership and perhaps it’s best to continue to use her to explore that area in season two, especially as she has an already established rapport with the new head of the Klingon Empire, L’Rell.

Other options

There’s a variety of other captains and commodores we saw on The Original Series to consider: Ronald Tracey; Commodore Stone; Robert Wesley; Commodore Mendez, or even admirals like Komack. Any of them could feasibly be Discovery’s new captain.

…or maybe it will be someone new

It’s fun to see familiar characters, and we certainly expect that to continue for Discovery in season two and beyond. But these kinds of characters are best used sparingly. Introducing new characters gives a sense of the scale of the Trek universe. Starfleet is supposed to be a huge organization.

Do we want to keep running into old characters so we can get nostalgic about Trek’s past, or do we want to look to the future? In season one, Discovery had a big success with Lorca, one of the more intriguing new characters in Star Trek. So, our hopes, and our qautloos, are on the writers coming up with something original for season two. We can’t wait to meet this new captain of the U.S.S. Discovery.

Who is your pick?

Is there a character from this list or Trek history you think will be the next captain? Or do you have an idea for a new character? Let us know what you think in the comments.

Star Trek: Discovery is available exclusively in the USA on CBS All Access. It airs in Canada on the Space Channel and streams on CraveTV. It is available on Netflix everywhere else.

]]>263TrekMovie.com Staffhttp://http://trekmovie.com/?p=542822018-03-11T23:28:43Z2018-03-11T23:28:43ZThere has been a lot of talk about Star Trek in the last week around the web and we have currated some of the most interesting bits for the Great Links, starting off with how The Next Generation is influencing a multi-billion dollar film franchise. We also have Trek news from Jeff Bezos, some fun Trek-related videos from TV around the globe and much more. So, buckle up for this week in Trek.

How Star Trek: The Next Generation helps the Marvel Cinematic Universe

Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige was interviewed this week by Entertainment Weekly and the discussion turned to wrapping up arcs for some of the characters in the upcoming film Avengers: Infinity War. The man in charge of the Marvel Cinematic Universe said he learned a lesson from the series finale of Star Trek: The Next Generation, that you don’t necessarily have to kill off a character to close their character arc, saying:

When we talk about resolution or a character’s story ending, are we necessarily talking about death?
People always will jump to that. That’s not necessarily what we’re talking about. I talk a lot, because I’m a big-ass nerd, about Star Trek: The Next Generation, “All Good Things.” That to me is one of the best series finales ever. That wasn’t about death. Picard went and played poker with the crew, something he should have done a long time ago, right?

Marvel is learning lessons from TNG

Bezos weighs in on Kirk v Picard

Amazon founder – and huge Star Trek fan with cameo in Star Trek Beyond – Jeff Bezos ran into Sir Patrick Stewart at the Oscars last weekend, and took the opportunity to share his thoughts (via Twitter) on the eternal Trekkie debate: Kirk v Picard. The billionaire is going with Picard.

Kirk meets Bones scene redone by cartoon voice stars

On this week’s episode of the Nerdist show all about animation – Talking Toons – host and voice actor Rob Paulson (Pinky of Pinky and The Brain, among many other voices) was joined by Butch Hartman (creator of shows like The Fairly Oddparents and Danny Phantom) and the pair took the time to recreate a scene from the 2009 Star Trek movie, with Paulson playing Kirk as Carl Wheezer from Jimmy Neutron, and Hartman doing McCoy as Keswick from his show T.U.F.F. Puppy.

Fan videos of the week: All the “not doctors” + How does the USS Defiant dock?

This week EC Henry, who makes some insightful videos on YouTube, has a fun look at all the things the Star Trek doctors aren’t.

Another interesting YouTube channel that produces some deep nerding on Trek and other pop culture things is Junkball Media. This week they turned their gaze on the USS Defiant, and specifically how it actually docks.

Of course Star Trek is a global phenomenon, and so this week we bring you some news about what people are saying about Trek around the world. First up, all month long the Space Channel in Canada (home to Star Trek: Discovery) is airing ‘Star Trek Movie Mondays,’ with a new Star Trek feature film every Monday. Tomorrow will be The Wrath of Khan (9e, 6p). And as part of their Trekkiing out all month, there was a segment this week on the Space Channel series Innerspacewith a debate over which is better, Wrath of Khan or The Search for Spock, which you can see below.

Star Trek has also popped up in Germany, on the comedy series Die Anstalt (The Institution). The show did a Star Trek-themed skit about Global Warming, featuring celebrity scientist Professor Harald Lesch (known to German Trek fans for presenting a series of Star Trek science segments for the German SciFi channel). You can watch the Die Anstalt sketch below.

That’s it for this week’s update. Keep up with all the fun Star Trek from around the web in our Great Links category.

]]>35TrekMovie.com Staffhttp://http://trekmovie.com/?p=542572018-03-10T19:44:58Z2018-03-10T19:06:29ZAs noted in our earlier report, actor Karl Urban is doing press this week to promote his new movie Bent and he has been taking some Star Trek questions. The actor admitted to Yahoo Movies that he is in the dark about what’s going on with next Trek movie, but weighed in on the news that there is a project in development based on a story pitch from Quentin Tarantino:

“I know nothing more than you guys do! My personal belief is that he’s probably the exact kind of energy the franchise needs.”

Of course, Tarantino is best known for adult-themed films and it has been reported the Star Trek film he has pitched would be R-rated. Urban told Yahoo that he is open to new ideas for Star Trek:

“It’s just important to remain open to whatever the story is, and whatever collaboration may evolve. Whether that’s going to mean swearing, more graphic violence or sex, I don’t know. It’ll be interesting to see.”

Karl Urban hasn’t seen Discovery (yet)

And when speaking to ScreenRant, Urban – who is a self-avowed Trek fan – said he plans to watch Star Trek: Discovery:

“No, not yet, but I’m really looking forward to checking it out. I hear great things about it and, you know, by all accounts I think there are elements of it from my understanding that give Star Trek a fresh perspective and I think that’s something that producers and makers of Star Trek movies should strive to achieve.”

When asked if he would consider appearing in the show, the actor mostly demurred.

“I don’t know. I haven’t thought about it to tell you the truth. And ultimately it would depend on the context and the material.”

See Urban in Bent

Karl Urban can be seen in the new crime thriller Bent, where he plays a discredited narcotics detective seeking revenge on the man who framed him. He stars along with Sofia Vergara and Andy Garcia. Bent was released this weekend in select theaters and on demand. Check out the trailer below.

]]>45TrekMovie.com Staffhttp://http://trekmovie.com/?p=542462018-03-10T01:13:39Z2018-03-10T01:07:49ZIt’s time again to catch up on the latest related to Star Trek: Discovery starting with some interesting comments from the guy in charge of the show’s props. We also have a delicious update from the writer’s room, some behind the scenes video with Doug Jones, and more.

Prop master talks about reconciling Discovery with TOS

In an interview with the official Star Trek site, Star Trek: Discovery props master Mario Moreira discussed what it has been like developing all the props for the show, including their approach to developing things using modern techniques that can still fit with the original Star Trek series, set ten years later:

So, we had to look at TOS, watch all the episodes, study the props, really figure out what they had in their technological language, what they used on a daily basis. That said, we’ve got really cool tools at our disposal now. We’ve got CNC machines that can create the aluminum shapes that you couldn’t do five, 10 years ago. We’ve got 3D printers that are doing things that we couldn’t do three months ago. We’re able to create a much higher-tech prop than our predecessors were. That said, the look of our stuff really had to eventually reconcile with where Trek was going to be 10 years from now. We could take liberties. But we were tasked to think, “What is this going to look like 10 years from now, but 200 years from today?”

Discovery phaser

Moreira also talked about how costume designer Gersha Phillips “wanted to do a general uniform look with the Starfleet uniforms and not represent rank on them,” and so the idea came to him in a dream on how to handle ranks in Discovery:

I’m looking at the pips on the collars on The Next Generation. That was an idea, but we couldn’t jump over The Original Series because those don’t happen until later. I just thought about it a lot, and it was on my mind so much that one night I fell asleep and dreamt about it. I often dream about the props of the shows I’m working on. I was dreaming about the badges, and there were all these little holes in the bottom left hand corner. I woke up and realized, “Oh, we can actually do the pips on the badges.”

Doug Jones happy Saru makeup only takes 2 hours

In a profile by The Great Big Story, Doug Jones talks about the many different creatures he has played in film and television. In the video below you can also see some behind the scenes on Discovery, where Jones notes that the 2-hour process to transform him into the Kelpien Saru is actually short compared to some of his other roles.

Speaking of Doug, the actor was at the Academy Awards on Sunday where he appeared on stage as The Shape of Water won Best Picture. He shared some photos on Twitter from the night.

Fan video of the week: TOS end credits for Discovery

One of the notable things about the season one finale of Discovery was that it used the music theme for the original Star Trek with the end credits. Well Leandro Martins on YouTube took that idea to the next level by redoing the end credits of Discovery in the same style as The Original Series.

Star Trek: Discovery is available exclusively in the USA on CBS All Access. It airs in Canada on the Space Channel and is available on Netflix everywhere else.

]]>33Shuttle Pod Crewhttp://www.trekmovie.comhttp://trekmovie.com/?p=542532018-03-12T01:36:51Z2018-03-09T19:06:46ZThere are good Star Trek episodes, there are bad Star Trek episodes, there are forgettable Star Trek episodes, and then there are the just plain weird ones. This week, the Shuttle Pod crew went back to the well of oddball episodes and we each chose a weird episode of Star Trek on television to rewatch and analyze. If you missed our first podcast of weird episodes you can catch up here.

For Volume 2 of The Best of the Weird, we watched the The Next Generation episode “Sub Rosa” (Dinnae light that candle!), Voyager’s “The Thaw“, The Animated Series “The Magicks of Megas-Tu” (Friend Kirk!), and we wrap it up with The Next Generation‘s “Home Soil” (we’re all just “ugly bags of mostly water”).

Shuttle Pod 45: The Best of the Weird, Volume 2

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Or grab the direct link to the podcast here

While re-watching “Home Soil” Matt realized that there are a number of parallels to the classic Original Series episode “The Devil in the Dark.” This is something the production seems to have been aware of too, they setup a shot in a tunnel that mirrors the iconic shot of Kirk and Spock seen through a Horta tunnel. You can see the comparison below:

]]>48Matt Wrighthttps://trekmovie.comhttp://trekmovie.com/?p=542182018-03-08T20:14:29Z2018-03-08T19:40:42ZMoebius Models is about to release a ship that spans the Star Trek timelines. The USS Franklin was one of the best things to come out of Star Trek Beyond, a pre-Federation ship that’s a predecessor to the NX-01 from Star Trek: Enterprise. Before it disappeared in 2164, the aging Franklin was pressed into service to help in the Romulan War that lead to the founding of the United Federation of Planets in 2161. And in the alternative Kelvin timeline in 2263, the ship was returned to service for one last mission by the stranded crew of the USS Enterprise.

The first look at the (partially buried) USS Franklin in Star Trek Beyond

The USS Franklin stares down The Swarm in Star Trek Beyond

We first saw an early prototype of the Moebius USS Franklin last summer at San Diego Comic-Con. The high level of detail seen even in just a first 3D printed prototype was impressive. Moebius Models is now ready to release the final model kit, it will be available in early-April, at a retail price of$69.99.

Retail packaging

The USS Franklin from Star Trek Beyond is the first in an all new all-new series of model kits from Moebius Models based on the new Kelvin-universe Star Trek movies. The kit is a 1:350 scale model. Measuring over 15 inches long and nearly 9 inches wide, this precision-tooled styrene kit features screen-accurate detailing, based on actual digital visual effects files.

The model comes with a Starfleet insignia stand

This skill-level 3 kit includes clear bussard domes and clear windows, as well as a Starfleet insignia display base. The kit also includes decals (with “worn” and “new” options) and a full-color instruction booklet, including detailed painting tips. Packaging features box art by legendary Star Trek production illustrator, John Eaves.

More photos

As a premier manufacturer of specialty model kits, Moebius Models has the pop culture world covered, from nostalgic gems like Lost in Space and Batman the Classic TV Series to modern blockbusters like Batman v. Superman and Star Trek Beyond. For more info, visit their official site at moebiusmodels.com.

]]>20Anthony Pascalehttps://trekmovie.comhttp://trekmovie.com/?p=542172018-03-09T18:59:20Z2018-03-08T02:29:42ZTim Russ spent seven years in the Delta Quadrant as Tuvok on Star Trek: Voyager and has kept busy as an actor and director since the show wrapped up almost two decades ago. With the release of the new sci-fi dramedy series Personal Space (on Amazon now), TrekMovie decided to catch up with the actor to talk about his time with Trek on (and before) Voyager, the new show Personal Space and his other projects.

Happy with Tuvok’s journey on Star Trek: Voyager

Your connection with Star Trek goes back to 1987 when you auditioned for the role of Geordi La Forge for The Next Generation. Can you talk about that audition?

I went in to read for it once or twice and I subsequently went in to read for the doctor’s role in Deep Space Nine and then eventually Voyager. At the time I wasn’t aware that LeVar Burton was also up for it. That might have been a straight offer [without audition]. He was the only well-known name from the States that was in that series, that is one of reasons they brought him in.

They did end up hiring you a few times before Voyager. You had guest roles on both TNG and DS9, and then again for Generations. Did you know you were being considered for the Voyager role when you did Generations?

No. At the time the producer [Rick Berman] told me they were developing a series that was going to be called Voyager. But, they didn’t have all the characters in place yet and he did mention the series was coming and said if there was a role in there for me, he would love for me to come in and read for it.

But yeah, I did audition for all of those shows. Over the course of a year or two, off and on, and finally just booked a few of them. So, I had already been in their wheelhouse prior to Voyager, which was an advantage in my case.

Tim Russ with James Doohan in Star Trek: Generations

Looking back, have you ever wondered “what if?” Have you ever thought about how you might have handled the role of Geordi, or are you happier you ended up cast as Tuvok?

Yeah, I am actually glad I got the role as Tuvok over that one, because the role that I had was somewhat more organic and much easier in terms of dialog. [laughs] I am glad I didn’t get stuck with all that engineering tech talk. I would have not have been as impressed or enjoyed it as much. That kind of dialog doesn’t do anything for me. So, I am glad it ended up the way it did.

Were you satisfied the way the writers handled Tuvok’s story and arc over the seven years of Voyager?

Yeah. I thought they did a very good job. They explored any number of scenarios for him, which I thought was pretty cool. The character was a father, he had a wife and children. We explored all those kinds of things, as we should to flesh out the character. I was very happy with it. We even explored things that we had to make up as we went along, because there was no precedent for them. I enjoyed that as well. It was very cool.

Can you give an example?

Well, the pon farr stuff didn’t really have a large knowledge-base, so we had to make up a lot of things for that. We had to extrapolate a lot on that.

Tim Russ as Tuvok in “Body and Soul”

I have spoken to some of your costars and I know that some, like Robert Picardo, would pitch ideas to the writers for his character. Did you do much of that?

I didn’t that much. I might have put a bug in their ear at the beginning of a season about something here and there. I might have an idea about a concept or something for the character to go through. I know that there were a couple of episodes in that vein to what I was talking about. But, really I trusted them to come up with stuff and sure enough they did.

As a creator yourself, and now looking back at Voyager, how do you feel it fits in the 90s TV landscape? What are your overall views of how the show worked out?

It was a very good premise. The concept was open to a good seven years of story lines. We could do anything we wanted. We were not locked into already established characters or circumstances or environments. That is what I think made the show almost like the original Star Trek. We were continually moving and exploring, even if our goal was to get home.

You got your start directing on Voyager, can you talk about that?

It was great to have the opportunity by the producers. They allowed you to do an internship while being on the show and get a shot at shooting an episode. It was wonderful to have that opportunity. I can’t say that enough. You may not get that on all the television shows, although it is more common than it used to be. Even though it was just the one episode, that got my feet wet. I loved the episode. I thought it was good story and it turned out very, very good. So, I can only say I was fortunate to have the opportunity.

Tim Russ directing the Voyager episode “Living Witness”

Back in space in ‘Personal Space’

Let’s talk about the new show Personal Space. How would you describe the premise of the show?

The premise, which I thought was very clever, is about a deep space mission with these intrepid crewmen and crewwomen on a mission financed by NASA which then runs out of money, so they have to go to a secondary source of funding. So, to keep the mission going, there are some compromises that have to take place involving the crew, unbeknownst to them. It is a unique story and I loved it.

The show is described as a sci-fi comedy drama, so do you see your role as Jeff Lipschitz more on the comedy side or the drama side?

It is kind of dark, sort of a dark dramedy. I don’t have that much humor in what I am doing. It is part of how the characters react to the circumstance that makes it interesting. It is more of an introspective for each crewman and what their thoughts and feelings are as they communicate. The main thing about long-term deep space missions – more than the tech – is the psychological condition of the crew and how they get along.

Is it a commentary on reality television and maybe social media?

It’s more reflective of reality television and how the story line unfolds. The way that it comes off to the people back on Earth comes off as a reality show. So, there are a lot interpersonal stories between the characters and there is also their relationship to the mission and their duties on the ship.

Tim Russ in Personal Space

This is another project that grew out of crowdfunding. You have been involved in a few projects like that. Do you feel it is still a viable way to get projects going, especially these sci-fi projects?

They are only viable as long as the fans who want to donate are excited about the cast members who might be in them. I do think it had its heyday for a minute and started to wane, because there are so many projects looking for funds. After a while, people are just going to get burnt out on it.

When it was available to take advantage of, it was certainly very good. It tends to only really work when the subject matter is something the fans are already familiar with and they are excited about and want to see more.

You were involved in some of the Star Trek fan films, such as Star Trek: Renegades which de-Trekked and became Renegades after CBS issued their new guidelines for fan films. Do you think CBS was being too strict or was it the right thing to do?

Look, you are technically raising money and people are technically getting paid for professional work on a project that is owned by another entity. So, you can’t do that. I knew from day one that this wasn’t going to last. You either have a license or their permission in order to persue these kinds of things. Even if they are not being sold to the public, which is a clear violation of copyright, people are being paid to work on the project and you are raising money to pay them, and you are raising money to pay yourself. As I said before, the fans will donate lots of money for a project they are already familiar with and they are familiar with it because someone else broadcast it. They have every right and that is what they did.

Tim Russ in Renegades

What’s next for Tim Russ

You are also currently developing your own new sci-fi film called Proxima 7, can you talk about that?

Yeah, that is one of the projects I have in development. It is with John Mott, who has been around for many, many years. He has independent financing and wants to put this thing together and get it going. He asked me to direct and we are co-writing the story, with Alexx Van Dyne who is writing the script. It is about a mining operation in space and what is going on between the miners and the CEO of the company.

I am also developing something with Herman Wilkins called Flight of the Sparrow which is being written right now. I was also supposed to be directing a project called Gift of the Heart in late spring or early summer. There is also a project of mine called Myth, which is a creature-thriller based in contemporary times with an ancient civilization running under it, so it is pretty cool.

Marina Sirtis and Ethan Phillips are attached to that last one, right? Is this one of those Syfy-kind of monster movies?

Yeah, they are. And yes, it is a creature flick. Not so much like Alien. This is more to do with ancient history on this planet, but it is in that vein. I think some of that genre is coming back.

And, you are also continuing to work as an actor.

Yes, I am working all the time as an actor. I just finished working on Superior Donuts and I got another episode of that to do in a week or two. I worked on NCIS: New Orleans recently. I worked on a Hallmark film not long ago. I also recently worked on 9-1-1. So yeah, keeping busy.

Tim Russ with Scott Bakula in NCIS: New Orleans (“Ties That Bind”)

Season 1 of Personal Space available now

Personal Space tells the story of astronauts aboard a generation ship who have no idea their therapy sessions are being broadcast on Earth as a reality show. It stars Nicki Clyne (Battlestar Galactica). In addition to Tim Russ, the cast also features the late Richard Hatch (Battlestar Galactica), Kurt Yaeger (Sons of Anarchy), and Cliff Simon (Stargate: SG-1).

The first season consists of 28 short episodes, each around 5 minutes. Russ is featured in 2 episodes. Tim plays first shift flight engineer Jeff Lipschitz, who is the best friend of the captain, who has been put into cryo sleep. The first season is available nowon Amazon. More info at personalspace.tv.

You can keep up with Tim Russ, including seeing a list of his upcoming appearances, at his official site (timrusswebpage.com). You can also follow him on Twitter and Facebook.

]]>31TrekMovie.com Staffhttp://http://trekmovie.com/?p=542082018-03-07T19:15:24Z2018-03-07T18:10:11ZThis week there have been a few new Star Trek products announced that have caught our eye. Here are the highlights for possible destinations for your journey down the Great Material Continuum.

Play like a Ferengi with new Galactic Enterprises card game

WizKids today announced a new card game titled Star Trek: Galactic Enterprises, which allows players to jump into the role of a Ferengi merchant working your way up to achieve the rank of First Clerk. In Star Trek: Galactic Enterprises, 3 to 8 players will buy and sell their wares, trying to monopolize one particular product in order to gain greater profit. However, once other Ferengi get those same items for sale, it becomes a matter of who’s the better negotiator. Do you work together to gain the same profit, or do you agree to cooperate, then sell at a lower price to steal all the profit for yourself? Be wary of special action cards that can mess with your business and remember the Ferengi Rules of Acquisition in order to gain the most return for your investments.

Star Trek: Galactic Enterprises is scheduled to release in June 2018. A playable demo of the game will be available at the GAMA Trade Show in Reno, Nevada (Booth #315) on March 13th and 14th.

Diamond Select promises Star Trek news soon

You may have noticed our recent Toy Fair coverage made no mention of Diamond Select Toys, and that is because they didn’t have any updates or new reveals about their upcoming Star Trek items at the show. It has been a while since DST has announced anything related to Star Trek, but in a tweet (replying to a fan hoping for news) last week, the company hinted something new may be on its way.

We should be unveiling our next ship soon. Not Reliant, although that is still in development. All our Trek lines continue, at their own pace.

]]>17Anthony Pascalehttps://trekmovie.comhttp://trekmovie.com/?p=541992018-03-07T02:41:05Z2018-03-07T00:18:30ZThere hasn’t been a lot of news about the next Star Trek feature film since it was reported in December that producer J.J. Abrams had hired a screenwriter to draft a script based on an idea from Quentin Tarantino. Now another actor is sounding more optimistic about Star Trek returning to the big screen.

Karl Urban is out promoting his new film Bent, and of course he is being asked by the movie press about Star Trek. Speaking to LRM, the actor said he thought Tarantino’s involvement was “exciting,” and gave an update on where he see’s the Trek project:

Here’s the thing—they’re in the really early stages of development at this time. Quentin is about to direct his Hollywood film [Once Upon a Time in Hollywood] with Brad Pitt and [Leonardo] DiCaprio. You’re talking about a film after a film. Ultimately, at the end of the day, the ball is in Paramount’s court. Hopefully, they’ll green light another Star Trek movie. If they do it, then it’ll be a lot of fun.

Speaking to JoBlo the Urban seemed more optimistic about his return as Dr. Leonard ‘Bones’ McCoy, saying:

“I have such a blast working on those Star Trek movies. You know, that cast, we’re like family at this point. I’m pretty confident within, hopefully the next year, that we’ll be back on the set.”

While there aren’t a lot of details, Urban’s comments are a contrast to those he was making in 2017, before the first news of the Tarantino Trek pitch. As recently as last October the actor seemed resigned to the possibility of 2016’s Star Trek Beyond being his final Trek film, saying “if we don’t get that opportunity [to make another Trek film] then I’m really happy to have ended on such a good note.”

Since Beyond, all the main cast members have expressed interest in getting back into space, and some frustration with wondering when or if that was going to happen. It isn’t clear if Urban’s optimism is based on information that the cast of Beyond would be involved with the Tarantino project. But, he sounds more sure than his fellow cast member John Cho who in January could only say he “hoped” his character (Hikaru Sulu) would be required.

Karl Urban as Dr. McCoy in Star Trek Beyond

Shatner says he was joking about returning as Kirk via CG tech

Speaking of actors talking changing their tone about the next Star Trek feature film, William Shatner seems to be backtracking a bit on his recent comments about how CG tech could be the solution to him playing Kirk again for Tarantino. In a new interview with the Toronto Sun, the actor now implies he was joking:

In a private conversation, I said that if there was a way to get back into Star Trek it would be through Ziva, who can make me look any age and dress me in any wardrobe. But that was tongue and cheek because right now the movies have their own cast. Looking ahead, virtual reality is something that is really going to take off in the next few years.

William Shatner with Chris Pine, shooting The Captains documentary in 2011

]]>158TrekMovie.com Staffhttp://http://trekmovie.com/?p=541912018-03-05T20:51:54Z2018-03-05T20:50:23ZLast week we shared a rare 1976 audio interview with Leonard Nimoy where he talked about creating the character of Spock and gave his thoughts on the franchise’s future and if Paramount would ever recast Spock. As a contrast, today we have a rare 1975 TV interview with William Shatner where he also talks about working on Star Trek and gives his thoughts about the future of the franchise.

The January 1975 interview was conducted by Geraldo Rivera for ABC’s Good Night America and was conducted following the Fourth Annual International Star Trek Convention in New York City. The segment includes clips from the convention and bits of the popular Star Trek blooper reel.

Unsure if Trek would or even could return successfully

In the years following Star Trek’s cancellation the show had a resurgence of popularity in syndication, leading to talk about bringing it back in some way. Rivera asked Shatner about what he thought about Star Trek returning and actor noted he was skeptical:

I have heard so many rumors and so much has been made of it coming back that has never reached me in concrete terms. I tend to discard everything now. The possibility exists that it might come back as an hour and a half mini-series. That’s a possibility. But, as of this moment, Star Trek doesn’t look like it is coming back and it would be the first time it ever happened.

The mini-series Shatner is referring to was an idea at the time (touted by Gene Roddenberry) for Star Trek to return as a series of movies-of-the-week. Made-for-TV movies were very popular at the time and Shatner did quite a few, including two he promoted during this interview with Geraldo.

When pressed on if he would return to play Kirk, Shatner seemed reticent, saying:

[Returning to play Kirk] is the question in my mind I haven’t solved. I think that we could fail very badly, but being held up by comparison. This is a legendary thing that has happened. People back and say “God, that is what it was like.” Well, it was everyday television back than and I could go on about that. But, I think we could suffer by comparison if we weren’t careful. And I would want to be very careful not to do.

Later when asked if he was nostalgic over his time with Star Trek, Shatner noted how rare of an opportunity it was for him as an actor:

I think of Star Trek much as I think of other wonderful things I did in love. An actor works many times on two bases. One, he works out of love and passion, because the thing he is working on really satisfies a great many needs and fills him with money and publicity and billing mean nothing. There are other times where the piece isn’t so good, that all the other extraneous things to what an actor wants to do come into being. Star Trek was in that first category. You meet very few in a lifetime.

Of course, by 1977 Shatner had signed on to reprise his role as Kirk for the new TV series Star Trek: Phase II, which eventually morphed into Star Trek: The Motion Picture in 1979, and led to him playing the role in six additional feature films through to 1994’s Star Trek: Generations. The success of the Trek movies, lead to to Star Trek returning to TV with Star Trek: The Next Generation, which was just the first of five live-action Star Trek series to follow the original.

Publicity still of Shatner as Kirk for Star Trek: The Motion Picture

Watch full interview

]]>61Laurie Ulsterhttp://trekmovie.com/?p=541012018-03-04T19:24:45Z2018-03-03T17:21:37ZThe Oscars are coming, the Oscars are coming!

Star Trek itself has only won a single Oscar; in 2010, J.J. Abrams’ Star Trektook one home for make-up, with the award going to Barney Burman, Mindy Hall, and Joel Harlow. Over the years, various Trek movies have received nominations for art direction, original score, make-up, visual effects, and sound effects, starting with Star Trek: The Motion Picture all the way up through Star Trek Beyond. But when it comes to acting, the total of nominations for it in Trek movies remains at zero. Yet the movies and TV series combined boast a fair number of Oscar nominees in their ranks.

Christopher Plummer (Star Trek VI‘s General Chang), a one-time winner and now a two-time nominee, is up this year for his role in All the Money in the World. With Star Trek: Discovery‘s Doug Jones (Saru) co-starring in (but oddly not nominated for) The Shape of Water, which is up for 13 Academy Awards on March 4, and Plummer in the running for his second win, it’s time to take a look at all the previous Oscar winners and nominees in the acting categories who have appeared in the Star Trek franchise. It speaks volumes that so many talented and well-known actors want to be a part of it. Let’s take a look at those who’ve won–or come close to winning–that golden statue.

Academy Award Winners

There are just five on this list, and four of them won before they found their way to Star Trek.

Joel Grey

Joel Grey, who’d won a Tony for the same role in Cabaret, had been pursued by Voyager producers multiple times, but it was a request from his fellow Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins actor Kate Mulgrew that sealed the deal and got him to read the script for “Resistance” and agree to play Caylem.

Joel Grey as Caylem in Voyager and as Master of Ceremonies in Cabaret

Louise Fletcher

On Oscar night, Louise Fletcher’s win was announced by Charles Bronson and his wife, Star Trek guest star Jill Ireland (Leila in “This Side of Paradise”). “I’ve loved being hated by you,” Fletcher told the audience in her funny, heartfelt speech that included a message to her deaf parents in sign language. Decades later, she was offered the part of Vedek-then-Kai Winn without ever having to read for it, and said she thought of the role as “the Pope in space.”

Louise Fletcher as Winn Adami on Deep Space Nine and Nurse Ratched in One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest

F. Murray Abraham

Like Louise Fletcher, F. Murray Abraham won his award in a film directed by Miloš Forman. 14 years later, he was in Insurrection, and felt so positive about the experience that he said in several interviews that he’d be fine just doing more Star Trek movies for the rest of his career.

F. Murray Abraham as Ahdar Ru’afo in Insurrection and Antonio Salieri in Amadeus

Whoopi Goldberg is one of only 12 people to have won an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar, and a Tony, and was the second black woman in history to win an Oscar for acting. A longtime Trek fan, it took Goldberg a while to convince Gene Roddenberry that her desire to appear on Star Trek: The Next Generation was both genuine and fervent. He finally got the message, and created the character of Guinan for her.

Whoopi Goldberg as Guinan in The Next Generation and Oda Mae Brown in Ghost

Christopher Plummer

Star Trek role: General Chang, Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered CountryOscar win: Best Supporting Actor – Hal Fields in Beginners (2010)Oscar nominations: Best Supporting Actor – Leo Tolstoy in The Last Station (2009) / Best Supporting Actor – J. Paul Getty in All the Money in the World (2018)

Christopher Plummer and William Shatner go way back, having both been on the CBS radio circuit in Montreal when they were young, and then working together on the stage. Shatner was Plummer’s understudy for the lead role in Henry V in 1956, and when a kidney stone brought Plummer down, Shatner had his moment. Good prep for their face-off in Star Trek VI!

Christopher Plummer as General Chang in The Undiscovered Country and Hal Fields in Beginners

Academy Award Nominees

As anyone will tell you, it’s a huge honor just to be nominated, and this classy bunch proves it.

Judith Anderson

Dame Judith Anderson was primarily known as a stage actress, but Leonard Nimoy was determined to have her play the Vulcan High Priestess in The Search for Spock and finally convinced her to do it. 44 years earlier, her portrayal of Mrs. Danvers in the Alfred Hitchcock-directed Rebecca scored her her only Oscar nomination.

Dame Judith Anderson as T’Lar in The Search for Spock and as Mrs. Danvers in Rebecca

Jean Simmons had already been on the covers of both Time magazine and Life magazine before she turned 20. In 1991, she gave a powerful performance in “The Drumhead,” directed by Jonathan Frakes. “I was honored to work with the talented and beautiful Jean Simmons. I just thought she was spectacular,” he told startrek.com.

Jean Simmons as Rear Admiral Norah Satie on The Next Generation, as Ophelia in Hamlet, and as Mary Wilson in The Happy Ending.

Theodore Bikel

Theodore Bikel had a huge career, appearing in everything from The African Queen to Babylon 5. He was also the co-founder of the Newport Folk Festival, famous as one of the first modern music festivals in America and the site of Bob Dylan’s first “plugged-in” live performance indicating his shift from folk music to rock.

Theodore Bikel as Sergey Rozhenko on The Next Generation and as Sheriff Max Muller in The Defiant Ones.

Michael Dunn

Among Michael Dunn’s co-stars in Ship of Fools was BarBara Luna, famous to Star Trek fans as Marlena Moreau from “Mirror, Mirror.” Dunn had been considered by Gene Roddenberry for Spock in Trek’s first pilot, “The Cage,” and then for Balok in “The Corbomite Maneuver,” but it wasn’t until the show’s third season that they found just the right role for him.

Michael Dunn as Alexander on Star Trek, and Karl Glocken in Ship of Fools.

Samantha Eggar

While shooting The Collector, about a woman kidnapped and held in a windowless room, co-star Terence Stamp was told not to even talk to Eggar during down time to preserve the mood, and when director William Wyler wanted more tension in a scene, he would throw cold water on her. Nothing like that took place on the set of TNG, where we assume everybody was happy to chat her up in the breaks, especially her fellow Brit, Patrick Stewart.

Samantha Eggar as Marie Picard on The Next Generation and Miranda Grey in The Collector.

Michael J. Pollard

Although C.W. Moss was Bonnie and Clyde’s driver, Michael J. Pollard didn’t actually know how to drive, and told Roger Ebert that even though they hired someone to teach him, he still couldn’t learn how to do it. Pollard, perpetually babyfaced, was already 27 when he played the teenage Jahn on Star Trek.

Michael J. Pollard as Jahn on Star Trek and as C.W. Moss in Bonnie and Clyde

Paul Winfield

Director Nicholas Meyer said that the reason he cast Paul Winfield in Wrath of Khanwas simply because he’d wanted to work with him ever since seeing Sounder. “There was no real reason for him to be the captain of the Reliant, other than my great desire to direct him in scenes!” he said. “I knew he could do it, without any question.”

Paul Winfield as Captain Terrell in The Wrath of Khan, as Captain Dathon on TNG, and as Nathan Lee Morgan in Sounder

Brad Dourif

Brad Dourif, who’s also famous for providing the voice of the Chucky doll in the Child’s Play movies, and was actually director Tim Burton’s first choice to play the Joker in his 1989 movie Batman. (The studio nixed it.) Dourif had no idea that Lon Suder would return after his first appearance in “Meld,” but was pleased he got to come back and finish up his storyline.

Brad Dourif as Lon Suder on Voyager and as Billy Bibbit in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest

Teri Garr

Teri Garr’s experience on Star Trek was not a positive one. In the book Inside Star Trek, Bob Justman described Gen Roddenberry’s insistence on shortening Roberta Lincoln’s skirt far past what even daring costume designer William Ware Theiss found acceptable, which likely contributed to Garr’s discomfort. Her episode, “Assignment: Earth,” was meant to be a pilot for a new series, and Garr told Starlog magazine that she would have done the series, but was relieved it didn’t sell.

Teri Garr as Robert Lincoln on Star Trek and as Sandy Lester in Tootsie

Alfre Woodard

First Contact director Jonathan Frakes and Alfre Woodard go way back, and despite being the same age, Woodard says she is Frakes’ “godmommy.” I got a call, and it might have been Jonathan saying ‘Godmommy, I’m going to direct First Contact.’ I said, ‘Yes!’ My godson was going to direct me. ‘Hell yeah.’ Then I thought, I don’t know anything about this. I remember that first day on set, Jonathan said, ‘You’re from a different time anyway, so you won’t even know half the things — it will work, it will work.’ That first day, I had to come through a Jefferies tube and I said, ‘Jonathan, who’s Jeffrey?’ And he looked at me and he said, ‘Oh my god, what have I done?'”

Alfre Woodard as Lily Sloane in First Contact and as Geechee in Cross Creek

Dean Stockwell

Fans of Quantum Leap were happy to see their two stars, Scott Bakula (Jonathan Archer) and Dean Stockwell reunited on Enterprise, despite the fact that they were playing adversaries. As for Married to the Mob, director Jonathan Demme was thrilled with Stockwell’s performance, even off-camera. “Dean was completely in character–talking like a gangster, walking like a gangster, always rolling his neck around like he was ready for a massage. Then he’d look around the set–very imperially–and say, ‘It’s so nice to see how you people operate in the movie business.'”

Dean Stockwell as Col. Grat on Enterprise and as Tony Russo in Married to the Mob

Bruce Davison

Bruce Davison’s guest appearance on Voyager made Roxann Dawson (B’Elanna Torres) particularly happy. “I’ve always wanted to work with him,” she told The Official Star Trek: Voyager Magazine. “I had known of him since I lived in New York City, and he was just brilliant.” His performance in Longtime Companion helped win major accolades for the movie, the first major studio film to tackle the AIDS crisis, and won him a Golden Globe.

Bruce Davison as Jareth in Voyager, as Menos in Enterprise, and as David in Longtime Companion.

Winona Ryder

Winona Ryder’s Little Women co-stars included two TNG guest actors: Kirsten Dunst, who was on when she was just 11, and John Neville, who played Sir Isaac Newton in a holodeck simulation. Ryder was cast as Amanda Grayson in Star Trek by J.J. Abrams as a tribute to the 1978 movie Superman, which featured well-known actors like Marlon Brando, Susannah York, and Glenn Ford in supporting roles. Several of Ryder’s scenes were deleted from the final cut, but turned up on the Blu-ray release as extras.

Winona Ryder as Amanda Grayson in Star Trek, as May Welland in The Age of Innocence and as Jo March in Little Women

James Cromwell’s part in the TNG two-parter “Birthright” had to be trimmed down, as during the time between filming the two episodes, he broke his leg. He had two extra scenes that were never filmed as a result, one of which painted Jaglom Shrek as a more sympathetic character.

James Cromwell as Nayrok, then Jaglom Shrek on TNG, as Minister Hanok on DS9, as Zefram Cochrane in First Contact and as Arthur Hoggett in Babe

Shohreh Aghdashloo

While principal filming on Star Trek Beyond wrapped in October of 2015, reshoots took place on March of the following year, and Shohreh Aghdashloo was added as Commodore Paris, likely an ancestor of Star Trek: Voyager‘s Tom Paris, confirmed by co-writer Simon Pegg in an interview in China while promoting the film.

Shohreh Aghdashloo as Commodore Paris in Star Trek Beyond and Nadi in House of Sand and Fog

Frank Langella

Frank Langella took the DS9 role because his kids were big fans of the series, and with that as his motivation, he asked to remain uncredited on all three episodes. He won a Tony Award for his performance in the original stage production of Frost/Nixon, and when Ron Howard was asked to direct the film, said he would only do it if both Langella and co-star Michael Sheen were cast in their original roles.

Frank Langella as Jaro Essa on DS9 and as Richard M. Nixon in Frost/Nixon

Benedict Cumberbatch

In December of 2011, Benedict Cumberbatch shot a short video of himself on his iPhone doing three scenes he’d been given from the newest Star Trek movie being directed by J.J. Abrams. He sent the video off, and on New Year’s Day, he got the call saying he had the part. The secrecy around the true identity of his character took center stage before the movie came out, as both Cumberbatch and Abrams repeatedly denied that he was playing Khan. Abrams later admitted that they would have been better off without all the subterfuge.

Benedict Cumberbatch as Khan in Into Darkness and as Alan Turing in The Imitation Game

Tom Hardy

Not only did Tom Hardy shave his head to play Shinzon, a clone of Picard, but he also wore a prosthetic nose and chin so he’d resemble him better. He got the role in The Revenant when Sean Penn dropped out, and said he watched Tom Berenger in Platoon for inspiration on how to play the role.

Tom Hardy as Shinzon in Star Trek Nemesis and as John Fitzgerald in The Revenant

Let us know if we missed anyone, and check back on Oscar night to see if we need to update our Christopher Plummer section with another win!

]]>41Anthony Pascalehttps://trekmovie.comhttp://trekmovie.com/?p=541312018-03-03T00:20:58Z2018-03-02T21:28:48ZThis week CBS CEO Leslie Moonves spoke at the Morgan Stanley Technology, Media & Telecom Conference in San Francisco. When he talked about the CBS Corporation’s strategy, much of the discussion covered the various CBS direct-to-consumer offerings including CBS All Access, home of Star Trek: Discovery. We have highlights from that below and also news from the CEO of Viacom’s talk.

How Star Trek fans helped All Access and why Discovery isn’t on Netflix in the US

Discussing the launch of All Access and why they anchored it with Star Trek: Discovery, Moonves explained:

For All Access, obviously we are starting a new pay service, and we were offering our existing series and catch-up on current seasons and old seasons, but it was important to have original content. And what better way to get people to pay for the first time than offering Star Trek? It is a built-in fanbase that was pretty emphatic and not averse to paying for what they are getting.

Later during the presentation, Moonves noted how the decision to have Star Trek on All Access meant they gave up on short term money, but he felt it was worth it to help grow the streaming service:

We could have sold [Star Trek] to Netflix for a whole lot of money, but you can be darn sure that All Access wouldn’t be doing as well as its doing.

If they launched new Star Trek on CBS Network, it wouldn’t be serialized

The CEO went on to note that there were many choices for where they could launch a new Star Trek series, including possibly on the CBS Television Network. However, he also noted that the choice of All Access dictated the style of the show:

Star Trek could have gone on CBS, it could have gone on Showtime, it could have gone directly to Netflix instead of just international, for a lot of money. There is a distinction. The Good Fight is a spin-off of a successful CBS show. It is sort of different on All Access, they can be serialized. On CBS we try to avoid that generally. Network television generally works better when it is not serialized.

More original programming coming to All Access, Twilight Zone may debut in late-2018

As for the future of content for All Access, the CEO pledged “There is no question we are going to invest in more programming.” He also noted that currently Showtime has moved to launching new original programming every month to “reduce the churn” and expected the amount of original programming to increase for All Access:

On All Access, Star Trek: Discovery was a major hit. A lot of those subs are because of that show. We also have The Good Fight, which is The Good Wife spin-off, which is doing very well. We have a bunch of new stuff. By next year we should have five or six originals on the air. We continue to plan on having three or four new ones every single year. We are going to have a second season of Star Trek: Discovery. We have The Twilight Zone coming up, I think that is in the fall or early winter, which we are excited about. And there are a number of other things. You are going to see us ramp up that and as part of that we expect to ramp up subscribers.

Besides the three shows Moonves mentioned (Discovery, The Good Fight and The Twilight Zone), All Access has already announced a second season of the comedy No Activity and has another three scripted dramas set to debut: $1, Strange Angel, and Tell Me a Story. The second season of The Good Fight starts this Sunday.

Star Trek: Discovery will be joined by more and more programming on All Access

Viacom launching streaming service

Speaking at the same conference this week was Bob Bakish, CEO of Viacom, the parent company of Paramount Pictures, who own the Star Trek feature films. While CBS and Viacom are considering re-merging, Viacom is still mapping out its own strategy, and that includes planning their own direct-to-consumer streaming service.

Bakish didn’t get too into the details, but did outline how Viacom was entering the streaming space this year, saying:

Later in the year, you’ll hear about the product we’re going to launch that leverage [our] assets, including over 10,000 hours of library product which we’re going to implement on a direct to-consumer basis in a differentiated way that we believe leverages not only our library assets, but also our ad sales capabilities… I realize that sounds kind of cryptic, but it’s an opportunity we’re excited about and you will hear more about it later in the year

While much of Viacom’s library is dominated by the content from their popular cable channels like Comedy Central, MTV and BET, it’s also possible they are looking to leverage the Paramount film library as well. Disney is another studio that has recently announced they are going their own way, launching their own streaming service, and Viacom may be following suit. It’s possible this future service could offer some or all of the 13 Star Trek feature films.

Star Trek: Discovery is available exclusively in the USA on CBS All Access. It airs in Canada on the Space Channel and is available on Netflix everywhere else.

]]>214Matt Wrighthttps://trekmovie.comhttp://trekmovie.com/?p=541612018-03-01T22:15:37Z2018-03-01T21:50:40ZToday Round 2 Models announced their plan to produce a 1:350 scale Klingon K’t’inga model kit based on the iconic ship first seen in Star Trek: The Motion Picture. The gorgeous detail seen in the impressive close up shots of the Klignon cruisers of TMP (and later The Undiscovered Country) has long been something modelers have wanted to have in a replica.

Prototype of Polar Lights planned K’t’inga 1:350 model

The ship will be offered under the Polar Lights brand which has previously offered the classic U.S.S. Enterprise and U.S.S. Enterprise Refit kits in the same scale. At 1:350 scale, the K’t’inga model kit will measure 24” long. The large format allows the plastic injection molded kit to maintain details that can’t be achieved in smaller scales. CAD work for the kit is being supplied by professional model builder Charles Adams.

Comparison of the detail on the Klingon cruiser as seen in The Motion Picture and model prototype

The kit is model number: POL950/06, and will carry a suggested retail price of $99.99, it is due for release in September, 2018. A light kit will also be offered. The kit will be added to Round 2’s model kit price list to be released March 9, 2018, and will be available for pre-order from retailers soon after that. Pricing and availability for the light kit has not been finalized.

More images of the model

NOTE: Please remember these are photos of an early prototype, so any odd spots, gaps, or bits of different colored plastic should be temporary.

Polar Lights high level of detail

As an example of the kind of detail Round 2 puts into their kits, here is a modeler’s build up of the 1:350 scale refit USS Enterprise with light kit.

]]>36TrekMovie.com Staffhttp://http://trekmovie.com/?p=541532018-03-01T15:59:06Z2018-03-01T15:41:09ZThe Star Trek: Live concert series is returning to London for two performances at the Royal Albert Hall in June. The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra will be performing live to screenings of the 2009 Star Trek film and 2016’s Star Trek Beyond. Tickets go on sale on Friday and the Royal Albert Hall has made special preparations for Star Trek, giving fans a chance to win free tickets.

The Royal Albert Hall is getting ready for two Star Trek concerts in June

Order in Klingon to win free tickets

The Royal Albert Hall has announced that Trekkies booking tickets in Klingon will be given the chance to win free tickets. The first 10 people to book in Klingon will win two tickets each to a screening of their choice. To enter, simply call the Royal Albert Hall Klingon Box Office on 020 7959 0597 after 10am on Friday, and order tickets in Klingon. You must also make sure to leave your name and phone number in English.

Royal Albert Hall Box Office staff have undertaken a crash course in Klingon. Lucy Noble, Artistic Director at the Royal Albert Hall, said: “Star Trek is a timeless classic with a huge cult following. We wanted to celebrate it and reward real Trekkies with this opportunity to win free tickets for those booking in Klingon. I think the box office probably thought I was joking when we asked them to take Klingon lessons. But now they are chatting regularly in Klingon, I think they realize it’s an essential life skill that all should learn.”

Katarzyna Kuchnicka, Assistant Manager at the Royal Albert Hall box-office, said: “We’re used to organizing tickets for people from all over the world, but this is the first time I’ve been required to take a course in an alien language. When I first heard Klingon spoken, I thought it sounded a bit like a cat coughing up a fur ball, but there’s actually a lot more to the language than you first think. Yes, it’s very harsh, but I suppose that sort of fits. Klingons are pretty stern.”

tlhIngan Hol Dajatlh’a’? (Do you speak Klingon?)

‘Star Trek’ and ‘Star Trek Beyond’ In Concert

The screenings of Star Trek and Star Trek Beyond are part of the Royal Albert Hall’s The Films in Concert series and centerpiece events for their Festival of Science: Space, which will be running throughout May and June. Michael Giacchino’s scores will be performed live by the Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra, conducted by Ernst Van Tiel.

]]>4TrekMovie.com Staffhttp://http://trekmovie.com/?p=541332018-03-01T15:44:42Z2018-03-01T00:23:56ZThis week marks the third anniversary of the passing of Leonard Nimoy. One way to remember the man who made Spock a legend is to listen to rare interview with the actor from 1976 that was flagged by The Hollywood Reporter. The interview is audio from a public television interview Nimoy did in the same year he released his book I Am Not Spock, and two years before it was announced he would be returning to the role of Spock for Star Trek: The Motion Picture.

How Roddenberry convinced him Spock wasn’t a ‘dumb’ role

The actor admitted he was initially not interested in the role of Spock, but Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry sold him:

When Gene Roddenberry first the character to me, he said it was going to be a character with pointed ears from another planet. I was pretty serious about my acting and that sounded like “Gee, that’s dumbo time.” I don’t know if I want to get involved with that as I have fairly reasonable reputation going as a good, serious character actor.

Several conversations with Gene led us to some very exciting and very meaningful studies of the internal life of the character. Who he was and what he was all about. And those were the predominant things that convinced me to play this role. And, to be honest about it, it was the first steady work that I had been offered as an actor. I never had a job that lasted more than a couple of weeks after 15 years as an actor.

Leonard Nimoy in the first Star Trek pilot “The Cage”

Spock’s pointed ears almost didn’t happen

Much of the interview discussed the development of the look of Spock. The actor discussed how originally Spock was going to have reddish skin, but this made him look black on black and white TVs (which were still prevalent at the time), so they went with the greenish-yellow makeup. Nimoy also revealed that the pointed ears were going to be written off the show due to problems making them work:

We were having trouble getting the ears properly done in the early stages of the makeup, before we ever shot the first pilot. We were with the wrong makeup people and they were making the ears for me, experimentally, and they were really grotesque and funny and just bad. And we went through three or four of those sessions and as time got close to the first day of shooting – and once you start shooting you are looked in, that’s it.

As the time of shooting came more and more closer, I became concerned about the look. I said to Gene “This isn’t working, we really got to reconsider if we should have pointed ears on this character.” We had the eyebrows and the haircut and the skin color, but we could not arrive at a good pair of ears. Finally it was Fred Phillips, who became the makeup man on the series, who knew what was wrong. The problem was the studio make a commitment to these other people to make the ears and didn’t want to go elsewhere because it would cost more money, but he said we must and forced the easy and went and got a good pair of ears and that solved the problem.

Leonard Nimoy with Fred Phillips, who solved the ear problem

Not anxious for Trek to continue after disappointing third season

During the interview the actor discussed how he was not happy with the third season of Star Trek and if the show had been renewed, he would only have stayed if there were major changes:

The third season was not a happy year. We had a new producer [Fred Freiberger], who with all due respect to him, really didn’t have a feel for what star trek should be and what it was at its best. The scripts that he was buying for us and we were shooting were not of best, by any means. We had some good shows in our third season, but we had some of the worst shows. My feeling at the end of the third year was, if the show were to continue, I would want to see some drastic changes to move us back into the territory where we belong, which was really fine science fiction with good ideas and scripts. That did happen during the third season, and I couldn’t get my voice properly heard and I felt very frustrated. Under those conditions, I was not anxious for the show to continue. So, maybe it was best to let it finish now and leave it alone and let it be what it should be. I have heard Bill Shatner say “Maybe Star Trek should have run just three years and be left alone.”

He later went on to lament about how in the third season, writers were starting to repeat themselves, using tropes and catchphrases:

What happens is, when the writers start to get tired or when the producers or writers are not being terribly creative, the tendency is to go back and reusing those things which are working, and perhaps work them to death instead of looking for new creative ideas. So, they would have me saying “logically” constantly. I would be saying “logically” and “fascinating” forever and they would have me raising the eyebrow, that sort of thing. Or they would have McCoy saying “You, green, pointed-eared elf” over and over again. And they would have Captain Kirk saying “Gentleman, I can’t have this squabbling in my crew.” And they would have Jimmy Doohan over and over saying “Captain, the ship won’t stand warp eight.” It gets repetitive because they know it’s safe.

Nimoy feels writers started over-using show tropes

Open to recasting Spock, but didn’t think it would happen

The actor also weighed on what he thought of the idea of Spock being recast in any potential new Star Trek, saying:

That would be interesting. [Wouldn’t you be crushed?] No, no. Maybe I wouldn’t be crushed, because I feel quite secure that is not going to happen. I doubt very much that the studio would try to recreate Star Trek and a new actor as Spock. I think probably the more intelligent thing for them to do is to try to create another character with another actor, to replace Spock. If, for some reason we couldn’t get together. If they didn’t want me as Spock or they didn’t want the Spock character.

In the mid 1970s there were a number of on-again-off-again attempts at Paramount to revive Star Trek on either the small or large screen. And Nimoy’s prediction of using another character proved true with regards to the 1977 Star Trek: Phase II TV project. Nimoy turned down the offer to appear in that series as Spock and so Paramount decided to create the Vulcan science officer Xon (to be played by David Gautreaux). Eventually that project morphed into Star Trek: The Motion Picture, which Nimoy did sign on for. Of course, thirty years later Nimoy welcomed the recasting of Spock with Zachary Quinto for J.J. Abrams Star Trek.

David Gautreaux as Xon in Phase II and Leonard Nimoy as Spock in The Motion Picture

Listen to the full interview

]]>30TrekMovie.com Staffhttp://http://trekmovie.com/?p=541392018-03-09T23:18:46Z2018-02-28T19:16:25ZStar Trek: Discovery may be off the air, but there are still bits of news to cover about the show. Today’s update has Wilson Cruz talk about his return to the show, schematics for the Discovery phaser and tricorder, Kol’s original name, the latest news from awards season and more.

Cruz talks Culber’s return

In an interview with Emmys.com, Wilson Cruz talked about the plans Discovery showrunners Aaron Harberts and Gretchen J. Berg have laid out for the planned return of Hugh Culber.

Aaron and Gretchen explained what was gonna happen and told me I was part of the story for next season. This is a longer, epic love story and this is just a part of that that we have to do in order to tell it. I know what that story is and as an actor, I’m really excited about it. But even as a viewer, I think that’s gonna be fun to watch!

We haven’t seen the last of Wilson Cruz’ Dr. Hugh Culber

Closer look at ‘Discovery’ Starfleet equipment

CBS posted videos on Twitter, with technical schematics of the standard issue phaser and tricorder used on Discovery. Check them out below.

‘Game of Thrones’ beats ‘Discovery’ again

Just like at the Visual Effects Society Society Awards, Star Trek: Discovery was bested again by Game of Thrones, this time at the Costume Designer Guild Awards. Discovery actor Wilson Cruz was one of the presenters at the awards held last week in Hollywood and star Sonequa Martin-Green was also in attendance to cheer on Discovery costumer Gersha Phillips. Martin-Green shared a photo of the trio on Instagram.

]]>89Matt Wrighthttps://trekmovie.comhttp://trekmovie.com/?p=541232018-02-27T02:41:08Z2018-02-27T01:09:17ZAs we reported a couple of weeks back, our adopted space show The Orville was gearing up to start production on its second season and today is officially the first day of filming. Cast and crew took to social media to announce the start of their first week back on set. We also have news on another Trek veteran joining the writing staff, a new member of the cast, behind-the-scenes photos, and more.

Season 2 Production Starts

Creator and executive producer Seth MacFarlane celebrated the first table read for the second season last week.

Also this morning, director/producer Jon Cassar posted this moody photo of Ed’s office on Instagram

And this afternoon actor Kai Wener (Ty Finn) sent out this behind the scenes picture of himself with his TV mom Penny Johnson Jerald (Dr. Finn), Peter Macon (Bortus), and executive producer David A. Goodman.

Joe Menosky jumps from ‘Discovery’ to ‘The Orville’

A familiar name caught our eye on a call sheet that costumer Ivy Thade posted to Instagram this morning (see below). Joe Menosky is now listed as a co-executive producer and writer for The Orville. Menosky is a well-known Trek writer with dozens of franchise credits to his name during the ’90s, but he is perhaps best known for penning the classic Star Trek: The Next Generation episode “Darmok.” The Trek vet also had a stint on Star Trek: Discovery in 2016/2017 when he was brought in by Bryan Fuller and co-wrote “Lethe” with Ted Sullivan. Apparently Menosky has now moved on, and so Discovery’s loss is The Orville’s gain.

Seth MacFarlane has stated that the second season of The Orville “will lean a little more heavier [sic] into the science fiction,” which is something that was already becoming apparent as the first season evolved. Menosky seems to be a good fit for this direction and it bodes well for the fans that someone with his talents is now on the team.

A second new cast member

In addition to Jessica Szohr who we reported about in our last update, Deadline reported last week that Chris Johnson (best known for ABC’s Betrayal and CW’s the The Vampire Diaries) is set for a recurring role in season 2.

Chris Johnson in ABC’s Betrayal (2013)

Eagle eyed fans on reddit noticed that in actor J. Lee’s (Lt. Cmdr. John LaMarr) video (which now seems to have been deleted from his Instagram) about how excited he was to get back to work on The Orville, he showed some of the cast doing a table read of the first episode.

We can see Chris Johnson’s name placard there, along with his character name, “Cassius.”

Behind the scenes on the ‘The Orville’ hair and make-up

The Orville’s head of makeup Howard Berger and head of hair Maxine Morris have penned a blog post for the Make-up Artists and Hairstylists Guild, where they goes into detail on creating the looks and creatures for the show. The post also includes many interesting images from the hair and make-up teams.

Howard Berger working on Chad Coleman

Maxine Morris fixing a wig

‘The Orville’ heads to PaleyFest LA in March

The well known museum for radio and television is hosting another of their PaleyFests, this time as part of their Los Angeles location with the cast and producers of The Orville. It will be held on Saturday, March 17 at 2:00 pm at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood.

Season 1 rolling out internationally

The Orville has been spreading around the world. The first season has already premiered in a number of countries in Europe, including Fox TV in the UK, which started in December. The first season starts today in Sweden on Fox.

]]>159Anthony Pascalehttps://trekmovie.comhttp://trekmovie.com/?p=541022018-02-25T03:54:52Z2018-02-24T22:49:19ZOnce again our friends at the TrekDocs account on Twitter have revealed an interesting document from their Trek archive. This time it comes in the form of a 1990 memo from Star Trek: The Next Generation showrunner Michael Piller to executive producer Rick Berman, who at the time had the final say on what got on the air for Star Trek. The memo covered possible episodes for the second half of the fourth season of TNG. It briefly discusses progress on a couple of ideas that eventually became “Qpid” and “Devil’s Due,” but the main thrust of the memo was an interesting new pitch from Piller.

A return to the ‘Action’

We’re in space… an unidentified ship confronts us, it appears an old starship. The voice on the audio channel identifies himself as Captain James T. Kirk of the U.S.S. Enterprise. End of tease.

Piller goes on to describe the episode as a “return to the planet” (Sigma Iotia II) from the classic original Star Trek episode “A Piece of the Action,” which is the one where Kirk and the crew of the USS Enterprise find a society that had molded itself on a book about Chicago gangsters, left behind by a Starfleet vessel a century before.

That TOS episode ended with McCoy accidentally leaving leaving behind his communicator, which Piller envisioned would result in the imitative Iotions again reshaping their society, this time around the Federation. However, it would be one where they “perverted the ideals and purpose of Starfleet,” combining them with “the morality of the Chicago mob.” Piller’s pitch also called for a cameo of Leonard Nimoy to return as Spock to “straighten these people out.”

Spock and Kirk in the Star Trek episode “A Piece of the Action”

Piller’s dare

In general, Star Trek: The Next Generation avoided direct links to the original Star Trek. There was one early episode in the first season (“The Naked Now”) which was a sort of sequel to a TOS episode (“The Naked Time”) but nothing as closely linked as what Piller was proposing.

Piller, who joined TNG in the third season and is credited with improving the overall quality of the writing, was aware there was a wariness around tie-ins to classic Star Trek. He even prefaced his memo saying he expected Berman to reject the idea. However, he also noted that they didn’t have any big ideas set up for February sweeps, and he argued that “now that we’ve established ourselves on our own merits, I don’t feel we need to fear the ‘old startrek’ syndrome as much. If you buy in, it will provide the highest ratings of the season.”

He ended the memo by signing off “I dare you.” According to the TrekDocs people, there is no corresponding response from Berman available. It is likely the idea was quickly rejected and the team moved on to develop the rest of the fourth season.

Piller signed off “Piece of the Action” sequel pitch with a dare

Ideas that lived on

While TNG never did this episode, the notion of following up on the provocative ending of “A Piece of the Action” was certainly something bandied around. TNG and DS9 staff writer Ronald D. Moore also wanted to do a follow-up with the Iotians imitating Starfleet. Moore’s concept had the society holding conventions and allowed for what would have been a comment on fandom itself. When Deep Space Nine was developing ideas for a special episode celebrating the 30th anniversary of the franchise in 1996 Moore pitched the idea again, but it was rejected in favor of “Trials and Tribble-ations,” which had the DS9 crew travel back in time to the events of the TOS episode “The Trouble with Tribbles.”

Follow-ups to “A Piece of the Action” were addressed in the non-canon extended universe of Star Trek books, comics and games, and some picked up on the idea that the society would be influenced by the visit of the USS Enterprise. In fact, the 1989 book The Worlds of the Federation, published a year before Piller’s memo, stated the next vessel to visit Iotia after Kirk’s Enterprise “found what at first appeared to be a Federation Starbase, complete with uniformed personnel and communications on Starfleet frequencies.” And in 1998, the tenth and final issue of Marvel’s Star Trek: Unlimited comic series – titled “A Piece of Reaction” – had the TNG crew on Enterprise-E return to Sigma Iotia II expecting to find the planet still styled after the 1920s Chicago, but instead find the society had reshaped itself around a version of Kirk’s Starfleet, albeit without the same moral code.

Cover for Star Trek Unlimited #10

In November 1991, a little over a year after Piller wrote his “HIGH CONCEPT” memo, Leonard Nimoy did return as Spock for the Star Trek: The Next Generation two-part episode “Unification.” The fifth season episode celebrated the 25th anniversary of the franchise and found Spock on the planet Romulus trying to bring about unification of the Romulans and the Vulcans in a sort of follow-up to the classic TOS episode “Balance of Terror,” which introduced the Romulans and their link back to Vulcans. “Unification” was based on a story by Piller and Berman, so the pair were in agreement about bringing Nimoy back for a big ratings event.

Leonard Nimoy appeared in TNG one year after Piller’s memo suggesting a cameo

Here is the tweet from TrekDocs if you want to read the full memo.

Michael Piller proposes a season four TNG sequel to "A Piece of the Action" that I would have WATCHED THE SHIT OUT OF. "I dare you." October 17, 1990. pic.twitter.com/LaqhWWjq15

]]>73Brian Drewhttp://trekmovie.com/?p=540512018-03-09T16:59:45Z2018-02-24T04:33:48ZOur third and final article covering Toy Fair 2018 in New York City looks at the latest Star Trek products that were on display from Gentle Giant, The Coop, NJ Croce, and a new game announced by Looney Labs.

Gentle Giant unveils ‘Discovery’ Fleet Flyers

Gentle Giant Toys unveiled their first ‘Fleet Flyer’ small-sized plastic models of ships from Star Trek: Discovery. Each ship is sculpted using digital models from Discovery and even though they are priced at only $7.99, they offer a lot of detail. Each ship comes with an articulated arm stand and suction cup so they can be attached to any smooth, flat surface. The first series is planned for this fall and will feature five ships from Discovery’s first season: USS Discovery, USS Shenzhou, USS Europa, Vulcan Shuttle and USS Clarke.

Gentle Giant Discovery ‘Fleet Flyer’s

Detail on USS Europa Fleet Flyer from Gentle Giant

Detail on USS Clarke Fleet Flyer

USS Discovery and USS Shenzhou Fleet Flyers

Vulcan Shuttle Fleet Flyer

Latest Star Trek bags, wallets and notebooks from The Coop

The Coop continues to bring out new Star Trek items you can use for school or in your everyday life. On display was a number of new and upcoming bags, notebooks, journals and wallets featuring fun designs inspired by The Original Series and The Next Generation. According to a rep for The Coop, they have some more items currently in prototype, but those were not yet approved to be shown to the public.

The Coop’s Star Trek display at Toy Fair 2018

The Coop has a number of new items featuring a cool retro design featuring Uhura from TOS. On display was the just-released faux leather Uhura tote purse, which includes a padded laoptop sleeve. You can buy now at Entertainment Earth for $59.99.

Uhura tote purse from The Coop

Another new retro Uhura product was this hardcover faux leather journal with 232 pages. It has also just been released and can be purchased at Entertainment Earth for $11.99.

Included in The Coop’s new bags was the soon-to-be-released Star Trek: The Next Generation messenger bag, which includes a number of interior compartments and a LCARS-themed lining. You can pre-order now for $79.99 at Entertainment Earth.

Star Trek bendables from NJ Croce

In last year’s Toy Fair roundup we reported NJ Croce announced they were going to do Star Trek ‘bendable’ figures. The first ones are due in April and were shown off at Toy Fair. The first set of four 6-inch bendable figures (Kirk, Spock, McCoy and Scotty) comes in a “Transporter Room” box set which you can pre-order for $32.99 at Entertainment Earth. You can also buy Kirk and Spock individually for $8.99.

NJ Croce Star Trek bendables transporter room set

Star Trek Fluxx games announced

As Toy Fair kicked off, game maker Looney Labs announced they were making two Star Trek editions of their popular Fluxx card game. There were no prototypes to show off, but Looney said they will be making a TOS and TNG version of Fluxx, set to be released this summer. To help develop the game, Looney is partnering with Gale Force Nine, makers of the Star Trek: Ascendancy board game. Star Trek joins other themed editions of Fluxx, including Doctor Who, Batman, Firefly and Monty Python.

Fluxx is adding two Star Trek editions this summer

More Toy Fair

17TrekMovie.com Staffhttp://http://trekmovie.com/?p=540442018-02-22T22:31:26Z2018-02-22T22:15:54ZWilliam Shatner is going on tour this spring to host a number of Star Trek events across the Midwest and Northeast. The original Kirk will be hosting screenings of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan in nine cities in March, April and May. After screenings of the film, Shatner will take to the stage to share stories about making the film, his time with Star Trek and his decades-spanning career. Events will also have fan Q&A sessions.

For most of the events, tickets go on sale on Friday. There are pre-sale tickets avaialble with a discount via the Official William Shatner fan club. To join for free and get more details visit WilliamShatnerFanClub.com.

Here is the full list of locations for the Shatner Star Trek II events:

]]>63Shuttle Pod Crewhttp://www.trekmovie.comhttp://trekmovie.com/?p=540462018-02-23T02:01:25Z2018-02-22T21:11:00ZThe Shuttle Pod crew has a final Star Trek: Discovery episode to wrap up the season of Shuttle Pod At The Disco. We look back at the development of Discovery, starting all the way back in November 2015, and how it changed after the loss of the person who initially conceived the show, Bryan Fuller.

At The Disco 15: A Look Back To The Birth And Development Of ‘Star Trek: Discovery’

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Or grab the direct link to the podcast here

Bryan Fuller announcing the name Star Trek: Discovery during the 50th anniversary Comic-Con panel in 2016

First seasons are always a little rough, and creating a first season of an entirely new Star Trek show — the first show since since Enterprise was canceled and CBS split from Viacom – makes for even more challenges.

Listen in as Jared, Kayla, and Matt discuss the trials and tribulations of Season 1 of Star Trek: Discovery.

Now that the first season of Star Trek: Discovery is over, The Shuttle Pod will be back to standard form, with bi-weekly podcast topics that span the Trek franchise.

]]>32Brian Drewhttp://trekmovie.com/?p=540222018-03-08T18:39:13Z2018-02-22T05:09:32ZAt Toy Fair in New York City this week, Quantum Mechanix were showing off their latest and upcoming Star Trek products, including badges, pins, figures and a ship. Check out the latest Trek highlights from QMx.

New Trek badges

QMx is expanding its line of magnetic Star Trek: Discovery badge replicas, revealing three new ones at Toy Fair. The first two are due in April, starting with a fourth year cadet badge as worn by Sylvia Tilly in the first season. It will retail for $14.95.

QMx Discovery cadet badge replica

Also coming in April and retailing for $14.95 is a replica of one of those mysterious black badges seen in the third episode of Discovery, and not seen since. We have been wondering what is up with those badges since then, but the name given by QMx, “Magnetic Black Badge,” was no help.

QMx Discovery black badge replica

QMx’s final Star Trek: Discovery item was a magnetic Klingon emblem badge, arriving in May and retailing for $14.95.

QMx Discovery Klingon badge

QMx were also showing off their Star Trek: The Next Generation Mirror Universe insignia badge, as seen in the recent IDW comic book series. This badge was just made available and you can buy one now at Entertainment Earth.

QMx TNG Mirror badge

Upcoming Trek 1:6 figures

Quantum Mechanix is also continuing to expand its line of 1:6 scale articulated figures. While they weren’t committing to any specific dates, they were showing off a number of prototypes they are developing.

QMx TOS Scotty figure

QMx TOS Sulu figure

QMx Wrath of Khan Khan figure

QMx Wrath of Khan Admiral Kirk figure

QMx Wrath of Khan Captain Spock figure

March Mission Crate items

QMx were also showing off a couple of the items they have inside the March “Star Trek Mission Crate” from LootCrate. Among the various Trek items in the next Mission Crate will be a QMx 6-inch Master Series Locutus figure from Star Trek: The Next Generation, as well as a USS Enterprise-D ship.

Planet Express Ship

If you’re a fan of Star Trek there is a good chance you are also a fan of Futurama. If you are, there was another item QMx was showing off at Toy Fair that you may be interested in. They were showing off a prototype of a Planet Express ship model, planned for the second or third quarter of 2018, which will be priced at $59.95.

QMx Futurama Planet Express Ship

More Toy Fair

]]>24Jared Whitleyhttp://whitleypedia.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/the-wrath-of-star-trek-into-darkness.htmlhttp://trekmovie.com/?p=540162018-02-22T00:49:58Z2018-02-22T00:49:58ZNot sure how to get your Star Trek fix now that Discovery is off the air? Well the good people at Puppet Master Games and CBS Interactive can help you fill the gap with the new Star Trek: Adversaries video card game.

Star Trek and card games go way back

Don’t tell my friends who co-host TrekMovie’s Shuttlepod podcast, but the reason I’m so well-versed in Trek lore isn’t because I’ve watched the show so much, read so many books, or spent so much time on Memory Alpha. (Though, of course, I’ve done all those things.)

My encyclopedic Treknowledge comes primarily from the old Decipher Collectible Card Game from the 1990s. Released right when TNG went off the air, the game had you square off against opponents as either Romulans, Klingons, or Federation. (All other non-animated instances of the franchise were later rolled into the game, plus factions like Ferengi, Bajoran, Borg, etc.)

Cards from the 1990s Star Trek Customizable Card Game (CCG)

You constructed a playable deck from your collection of cards bought from over-priced randomized packs at comic book or baseball card shops. Basically, it was one of many card games from that time designed to piggyback off the success of Magic: The Gathering, a game which – in its 25 years – has printed more than 20 billion cards.

Bringing Star Trek card games into the digital age

But times have changed! And the chance to recreate my personal, card-driven space missions of yore may have returned in digital format, thanks to the good people at Puppet Master Games and CBS Interactive. They have rolled out Star Trek: Adversaries, the first free-to-play online collectible card video game for the final frontier. Several online reviewers have already put let’s play videos up on YouTube.

Players construct a deck based around one of 24 Klingon or Federation flagships, which could be the NX-01 or could be the Sarcophagus ship. Then you square off in either player vs. player (PVP) or single-player campaign. The game is free with in-game microtransactions.

Adversaries looks absolutely beautiful, with 3D animation that’s fun to look at even if you’re not playing. The current set includes 300 cards from across the Prime universe franchise — even Discovery — including 50 additional starships and 140+ iconic crewmembers. This lets players put together their own perfect crew, and I’m sure they have enough expansion cards up their sleeve to beat Jack London at poker in San Francisco.

Choose your flagship

(No idea at this point if there are Kevin Uxbridge and Husnock cards though!)

The music is authentic from the series too, as producer and “Trekspert” Holly Amos showed on her Instagram recently.

In Adversaries, players go head-to-head

Adversaries “puts players on the front lines of galactic combat” and – as the name directly indicates – is very adversarial. You square off against opponents in direct combat, which is not something I’m particularly good at but hope to become better the more I play it.

Capturing Star Trek in a non-combat-driven game is very challenging. What I loved best about the Decipher CCG was, while there certainly were options to fight your opponent, the main focus was on exploration, solving dilemmas, and fulfilling missions. There was even kind of a gentleman’s agreement in most games not to fight each other.

Star Trek: Adversaries battle screen

But making a Star Trek game about shooting is much, much easier than one about scientific exploration, moral dilemmas, and asking corrupt admirals how many people it takes before something becomes wrong. So instead Adversaries is following the successful model of the current champion of online card gaming, Hearthstone, which was designed to emulate … Magic: The Gathering.

]]>7TrekMovie.com Staffhttp://http://trekmovie.com/?p=539982018-02-21T20:24:27Z2018-02-21T19:11:18ZIDW Publishing has announced what they have coming in May, including a number of Star Trek titles. The biggest thing is a special 5-week “event” coming straight from the Mirror Universe. There is also another issue from the second Discovery tie-in.

Star Trek: The Next Generation: Through the Mirror 5-week event

Last year’s Star Trek: The Next Generation: Mirror Broken was a big hit and was even nominated for the Diamond Gem Comic Book of the Year Award. Now the same team behind that book are back in May with a 5-issue series that will be released over 5 weeks. The series is being written by Scott and David Tipton with art by J.K. Woodward and Chris Johnson. According to IDW, the new series “sets up a new and exciting chapter in the Star Trek: Next Generation universe” and they promise there is more to come this year.

Here is the official blurb:

Because you demanded it! Following up the smash-hit miniseries MIRROR BROKEN, the Mirror Universe Next Generation crew is looking for new worlds to conquer, and they’re crossing over to the Prime Star Trek Universe to find them!

Also in each issue: Just how did the Mirror Universe crew find their way to ours, and what does Emperor Spock have to do with it? Backup stories every issue illustrated by MIRROR BROKEN co-creator J.K. Woodward!

Each 32-page issue in the series will be priced at $3.99 and will come with four different covers (A cover by J.K. Woodward, B cover by various artists, variant cover by concept artist Peter McKinstry, and photo cover). You can see a selection of the available covers below.

Connecting covers by J.K. Woodward

Star Trek: The Next Generation: Through The Mirror #1—Cover A: J.K. Woodward

Star Trek: The Next Generation: Through The Mirror #2—Cover A: J.K. Woodward

Star Trek: The Next Generation: Through The Mirror #3—Cover A: J.K. Woodward

Star Trek: The Next Generation: Through The Mirror #4—Cover A: J.K. Woodward

Star Trek: The Next Generation: Through The Mirror #5—Cover A: J.K. Woodward

B Covers (various artists)

Star Trek: The Next Generation: Through The Mirror #1—Cover B: Chris Johnson

Star Trek: The Next Generation: Through The Mirror #2—Cover B: Marcus To

Not available at this time are B covers for #3 (Josh Hood), #4 (Carlos Nieto), and #5 (Debora Carita).

Also coming in May: Star Trek: Discovery: Succession #2

In addition to the TNG Mirror event, IDW will released the second issue in their second Discovery tie-in comic. Co-written by Discovery writer and Trek novelist Kirsten Beyer and longtime Trek comic book writer Mike Johnson, the “Succession” series is set in the Mirror Universe and is directly tied into the second half of the first season of Discovery.

The 32-page issue is priced at $3.99 and comes with four different covers: A cover by Angel Herndandez, photo cover, a variant cover and a “ships of the line” cover.

]]>6Brian Drewhttp://trekmovie.com/?p=539862018-02-20T21:34:15Z2018-02-20T21:34:15ZThe annual ToyFair is happening this week in New York City, where toy makers show their upcoming products. McFarlane Toys is one of the Star Trek licensees there, and have a display of their first Star Trek products. The planned 2018 Trek items included the Star Trek: Discovery role play phaser as well as the soon-to-arrive Kirk and Picard figures.

Discovery phaser

One of the most anticipated items for McFarlane is their role play Star Trek: Discovery phaser, which was on display for the first time.

McFarlane Toys Star Trek: Discovery role play phaser

The phaser comes with lights and screen-accurate sounds. The rotating barrel sets the phaser for stun and kill, which is also indicated on a light on top as well as a lockable trigger safety. It comes with a removable hand phaser and battery clip with LED. I had a chance to play around with an unpainted prototype, which had impressive detailing and a nice amount of weight. It’s easy to see this becoming a very popular cosplay prop.

Discovery phaser packaging

McFarlane expects it to be available this fall, priced at $34.95.

Kirk and Picard figures coming soon

Also on display were McFarlane’s first Star Trek figures, one for Captain Kirk and one for Captain Picard.

McFarlane Kirk figure

McFarlane Picard figure

These 7-inch scale collectibles have the kind of sculpts you would expect for the highly-regarded McFarlane figures. Each comes with a number of accessories, with a Phaser, Communicator, and Phaser Rifle for Kirk, and a Phaser, interchangeable “Engage” hand, and Ressikan Flute for Picard. Each also comes with a stand.

Discovery figures in 2019, and possibly more Trek too

McFarlane has previously announced plans to do Discovery figures, and Brand Manager Evin Dempsey told TrekMovie a Michael Burnham figure could be available in the first quarter of 2019, but they weren’t yet ready to confirm it. Last summer McFarlane had also announced plans to make a T’Kuvma figure, but that now appears unlikely.

Dempsey noted that the McFarlane license covered the entire franchise of TV and films, with the exception of the Kelvin-era movies. He spoke enthusiastically about how he and other brand managers were fans of the show, and said “we are going to do it right” with respect to Star Trek, adding, “we don’t make a line, we curate a line.” The initial wave of Kirk and Picard figures are just the beginning, and if those go well, he says they hope to make many more Trek figures going forward.

McFarlane’s 2018 line of Star Trek releases is just the beginning

More Toy Fair

TrekMovie will have more Toy Fair 2018 coverage coming up soon.

]]>26TrekMovie.com Staffhttp://http://trekmovie.com/?p=539792018-02-20T18:32:19Z2018-02-20T18:32:19ZIf you really like your ship in the free-to-play MMORGP Star Trek Online, you soon will have the option to have an actual replica. Today Cryptic announced a partnership with Mixed Dimensions to offer players the chance to get “3D handcrafted starship collectibles, captured directly from the PC version of Star Trek Online.”

In a statement, STO executive producer Stephen Ricossa said:

“We are absolutely elated to expand Star Trek Online to the physical universe. Our new partnership with Mixed Dimensions will allow our community to immortalize their favorite starships. We can’t wait to see the reaction from our captains when the first wave of ships begins to roll out.”

After players design their own starship from within the game, they can upload their model to the GamePrint web site, where they will be offered several different purchase options. Captains can commission one of the company’s master artists to hand paint an incredibly detailed, 12” resin high-end collectible version of their starship. They can also order a single-color version or a primed model, which allows them to paint the entire starship themselves. For those who prefer to stick with the classics, GamePrint will also offer completed models replicating 20 of Star Trek Online’s exclusive and most popular starships.

Custom ‘Pathfinder” ship in Star Trek Online

3D printed and painted model of same ship

Another angle on the same ship

Unpainted version

The option to have your ship made into a 3D model will be availalbe in March. Pricing has yet to be announced.

]]>20TrekMovie.com Staffhttp://http://trekmovie.com/?p=539762018-02-21T19:12:51Z2018-02-20T17:25:21ZGrammy-nominated composer Austin Wintory, best known for his work in video games and in particular for the award-winning PlayStation game Journey, has revealed he was in the running to score Star Trek: Discovery. Writing on Medium, the life-long Trek fan revealed what he called his “amazing experience” tying to land the Trek gig which eventually went to Jeff Russo.

Three demos

Austin Wintory says after learning that Star Trek was returning to TV he implored his agent to get him in the running. They decided the first step would be for him to develop a theme which could be presented to the Discovery team back in 2016. So Wintory quickly developed an idea and hired an orchestra to perform what he called “a sort of love letter visual montage to the legacy of Star Trek,” which you can see and hear below.

As noted in his account, Wintory knew that without any experience working in episodic television, his chances were long, however the demo piqued the interest at CBS and he was asked to pitch an idea for the music for what would become the SDCC 2016 teaser, featuring the USS Discovery coming out of the dock. You can listen to that demo below.

Another composer was selected, and Wintory moved on saying “I was STOKED. I had had my hat in the ring on a real Star Trek show!” However, a few months later he was surprised to again be approached because “things hadn’t worked out with the composer they’d hired, and they were once again looking.”

This time he was invited in to speak with co-creator and showrunner (at the time) Bryan Fuller. Wintory describes the direction he was given to develop what would be his third demo in attempt to land the Discovery gig:

Bryan also told me something immensely exciting: “for the new demo, please don’t hold back. Give us full, unreserved Wintory. We want something musically aggressive and unique.” (and, as a side note, they hinted a quasi-religious, almost ‘spiritual warrior’ concept for the Klingons in the show, which was a great musical leaping-off point).

Shortly after recording the third demo Bryan Fuller stepped down from Discovery, but Wintory was asked to still submit the demo. In early 2017 he was told he wasn’t selected as the composer, but he had no regrets and was happy to be “seriously considered for a major show, one with massive childhood and personal significance.”

Wintory’s tale has some parallels with Star Trek VI composer Cliff Eidelman who revealed late last year he also was in the running to get the job for Discovery. There are likely more composers out there who were up for the job before Jeff Russo eventually was chosen, and maybe they too will come forward and share some of their music for what could have been.

Star Trek writer is a fan

After Wintory revealed his story on Medium, Discovery staff writer Bo Yeon Kim had a fangirl moment, showing her excitement over having the Journey composer pitching for Star Trek.

Okay I'm trying to calm down but BUT JOURNEY AND @awintory'S SCORE FOR THE VIDEO GAME MADE SUCH A HUGE IMPACT ON ME AS A WRITER

]]>37TrekMovie.com Staffhttp://http://trekmovie.com/?p=539712018-02-18T18:28:51Z2018-02-18T18:23:08ZWe have been talking about the Star Trek: Discoveryseason finale all week, but there are still a few bits to catch up on including what show writers are saying about the finale and what is coming next. We also have Sonequa Martin-Green and Anthony Rapp talking finale and season two and more.

Showrunners talks Pike and unlikely return to Mirror Universe for S2

Speaking to Entertainment Tonight, co-showrunners Aaron Harberts and Gretchen J. Berg talked about the season finale and the next season. Discussing what role the USS Enterprise will play in the second season, Harberts was clear that it would not dominate the show, saying:

More than anything, it is about what new stories does this provide for our crew, for Michael Burnham, for Saru, for Tilly. Our main interest is Discovery. However, if the presence of the Enterprise can show us new things about our crew, the better.

However, Harberts indicated that Captain Pike will play a role in season two, saying:

The thing to consider about Captain Pike is, from an audience and writer’s point of view, there is something very exciting about a key character from [Star Trek: The Original Series] who’s only been explored in two episodes of the original series — three if you consider how [the rejected pilot for the original series] “The Cage” works into the puzzle in TOS. When we think about the idea of Captain Pike, it opens up some large possibilities. We will never say never to exploring him a little bit more.

Gretchen Berg also indicated that they are done with the Mirror Universe (for now):

I’m really proud of the story we told in Mirror, and we’re going to let people sit with those for a while and maybe we’ll be going back again in the future. But for right now, enjoy those episodes from the last year!

This is in their rear view mirror for now

Writer talks about Klingon organs and why we wont see movie elements in ‘Discovery.’

Star Trek: Discovery writers Bo Yeon Kim and Erika Lippoldt were guests on this week’s The Alpha Quadrant podcast with Garrett Wang and Aron Eisenberg. The writing team talked about their history of collaborating and working on Discovery.

One highlight was when Yeon Kim talked about a subject mentioned in our finale easter eggs article, notably how Discovery has introduced the fact that Klingons have two ‘organs’:

That was an ongoing writers’ room debate. According to canon, Klingons have two organs, they have two of everything, right? So … we had this debate, when we say two of everything, does that include the penis?… I think this was something that [EP/Director] Akiva [Goldsman] really liked the notion of. He just kept joking, “Klingons have two dicks, Klingons have two dicks.” And then finally showed it on television.

She also discussed how the writers on Discovery are limited in that they are not allowed to deal with characters and elements from the Star Trek feature films, saying:

Just because of the rights issue, we can’t use anything from the films, so that’s just something that we’re always aware of. ALL films, ’cause it’s a Paramount property, not CBS.

Thanks to Akiva Goldsman “Klingons have two dicks” is now canon

Rapp talks about Culber’s return

It has been already established that Wilson Cruz will appear in the second season of Discovery, and in a new interview with the official site, actor Anthony Rapp talks a little about what he has been told about Culber coming back:

We didn’t know at that point what’s to come, though we’ve been told things and we still don’t know exactly, but we know that you’ll see these two characters interact again next season. I don’t know if it’ll be flashbacks, if it’ll be flash-forwards. Whatever it is, there will be some presence of our relationship will continue, and I’m pleased about that.

This is not the end for Stamets and Culber

Sonequa talks family reunion

In another official video from CBS, Sonequa Martin-Green talks about the journey of Michael Burnham through the first season, ending with a reunion with Amanda and Sarek.

]]>211Matt Wrighthttps://trekmovie.comhttp://trekmovie.com/?p=538852018-02-17T23:45:35Z2018-02-17T17:00:08ZThe reveal of the USS Enterprise as led by Captain Pike was a big twist in the season finale of Star Trek: Discovery. The inclusion of the ship has led to a lot of fan debate. While we can’t settle any of those debates today, certainly not before we see what they’re planing to do with the Enterprise in season two, we can do what Trekkies do best, which is to analyze the new “Disco” design of the most famous ship in the Star Trek franchise.

The new tweaks to the classic design are certainly interesting, and contain a variety of influences, primarily of course the final version of the classic Enterprise model that was used for The Original Series. There are also details from the pilot version as seen in “Where No Man Has Gone Before,” and the later refit version first seen in The Motion Picture. Also in the mix of influences are the NX-class from Star Trek: Enterprise, and yes, a dash of the Kelvin-universe USS Enterprise as well.

The original Enterprise(s)

For those who may be unaware, the filming model for The Original Series’ USS Enterprise looked somewhatdifferent in the first pilot “The Cage.” It was updated again for the second pilot, “Where No Man Has Gone Before,” and was then more dramatically re-worked a third time when the show was picked up for series.

The classic series version of the Enterprise

The season finale of Discovery takes place in 2257, which sets it in between the two pilots, with the “The Cage” set in 2254 and the second pilot “Where No Man Has Gone Before” set in 2265. The two pilot versions of the Enterprise are fairly similar. One of the easiest differences to spot between the pilot and series versions is the look of the nacelle caps (Bussard Collectors in TNG-era parlance). In the pilots they were a simple reddish-brown and had a spike protruding, matching the spike in the deflector dish. Speaking of the deflector dish, it was quite a bit larger than it would be in the final series version. There were some other differences too; the back of the warp nacelles initially had minimal detail in “The Cage,” and later in “Where No Man Has Gone Before” had a simple grille that looked like vents, rather than the funky and futuristic-looking balls they would have in the series. The bridge modules were also different; in both pilots they were taller. Various hull markings were changed between each pilot and the series as well.

The second pilot version of the Enterprise

Comparing originals to Discovery’s Enterprise

Nacelle caps

Let’s start with two of the most obvious attributes of the pilot versions. The nacelle caps are not spiked. Realistically I didn’t expect them to keep this feature of the pilot model, it was done for simplicity’s sake in 1964 and certainly isn’t the iconic look we all know. What’s more, in Discovery they need as many light sources as they can get, since they render the space scenes pretty dark. The nacelles’ spinning lights are less colorful than the TOS version, but they are overall similar to it.

Get a load of those nacelle caps

Deflector Dish

Moving down to the deflector dish, the Discovery team chose to go with the smaller, more detailed, version seen throughout the series. It would have been nice if they’d used the larger version, but again, the iconic design is the series filming model, which they’ve stayed pretty true to in this area of the ship.

Deflector dishes a plenty

Saucer Section

While we’re observing the bow of the ship, the saucer is pretty similar to the classic Enterprise. It does have a steeper taper on the edge, making it somewhat unique to this interpretation, but is otherwise pretty close, including the same long triangular markings on the underside.

A classic TOS shot that shows off the bow of the ship

A good look at the saucer and the deflector dish.

Engines

Swinging around to the stern of the ship, let’s look at the engines. In “Where No Man Has Gone Before” there was simple vent grating at the back of the warp nacelles. This one was a nice surprise — in the back of the nacelles of the Discovery version we find a glowing grid of vent holes.

Vents R’ Us

This last detail is more obscure: only in “Where No Man Has Gone Before” do the impulse engines have multiple nozzles in the back. While not exactly the same, you can see the Discovery impulse engines have three segments on each side.

Let’s get Impulse-ive

Details that connect to the past and future

NX Nacelles

One nice bit of design that ties this version of the USS Enterprise to what came before are the nacelles. These seem to be heavily influenced by the design seen in the NX-class of Star Trek: Enterprise. The glowing blue on the inside flank of the nacelle, the more obvious “clamps” around the nacelle caps, and even the thicker pylons that hold up the nacelles, all echo the NX-01.

NX-alicous

Refit and ready to “Disco”

Of course the other influence that is readily apparent is the (future) refit of the Constitution-class. The lines of the bottom and aft of the engineering section on up to the shuttle bay are very similar to the refit. Likewise the nacelle pylons come out of the hull in much the same manner as they do in the refit. The refit also introduced a number of extra spot lights to better show the hull texture and the Starfleet identification markings in the darkness of space. These same kind of floodlights are present in the Discovery version.

The refit USS Enterprise from Star Trek: The Motion Picture

A similar view of the Discovery Enterprise

Thick necked

One change that affects the lines of the ship is the new neck. While somewhat reminiscent of the refit, it appears to be a little bit shorter and about 50% wider, making it look a bit stubby and less graceful than either the original or refit Enterprise. We’ve seen this kind of stubby and wide design before, but it comes from an alternate universe. Thankfully this general design idea is all that’s taken from the Kelvin-universe.

Necks of USS Enterprise

Uniquely “Disco”

Let’s get this one out of the way: Yes this Enterprise has a window on the bridge, like all Starfleet starships in Discovery. The top of the saucer is similar to the original series version, but the bridge module is even flatter and wider than the classic series version. It seems like this was done to make a wider bridge which would accommodate that window.

The window is lit up, right where you’d expect it, under the bridge dome.

So far we’ve seen how the Discovery USS Enterprise melds influences from the rest of the franchise, but there are two totally unique oddities with this new design. For reasons I can’t fathom, there is a slit with rounded corners in the nacelle pylons. This seems to be pure “Discoization,” and people online are already calling this detail “the potato peeler.” No other ship we’ve seen in Discovery has this kind of cutout in the pylon. Even more unusual is the extended platform for the shuttlebay; we’ve never seen a shuttle craft actually need an extra landing strip before, and it gives the design an awkward “lower lip.”

The pylon “slit” and the shuttlebay “lip”

What do you think of the USS Enterprise redesign for Star Trek: Discovery? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.

Star Trek: Discovery is available exclusively in the USA on CBS All Access. It airs in Canada on the Space Channel and is available on Netflix everywhere else.

]]>366Kayla Iacovinohttp://trekmovie.com/?p=539542018-02-18T00:05:12Z2018-02-17T01:28:51ZToday Bye Bye Robot, purveyors of fine art from the future, released seven brand new Star Trek: Discovery art prints, of which three are a special limited edition run with only 40 prints being produced. The prints are officially licensed by CBS and are available on Bye Bye Robot’s online store now.

Limited edition art prints

Three of the new art prints, two featuring the USS Discovery and the third featuring the USS Shenzhou, have been printed in a very limited run of only 40 prints. All limited edition prints are 18″ x 24″ printed on acid-free heavy weight 10pt cardstock and are hand numbered. They sell for $45 each. All limited edition prints are by Bye Bye Robot artist Cliff Cramp, whose use of deep tones and rich colors serve to show off the grandeur of the new show’s adventures and characters.

Featuring tones of purple, gold, and terra cotta are the three prints entitled: “U.S.S. Discovery”, “U.S.S. Shenzhou”, and “Hope”. Each piece focuses on a detailed view of the ships or characters.

Four new Discovery art prints

Bye Bye Robot also has up for offer four new permanent additions to their collection of Discovery art prints for sale. These new prints sell for $25 each and come printed on acid-free heavy weight 10pt cardstock.

The first new image is by returning artist Mark Brayer. His distinctive style is immediately noticeable
with his strong use of color, graphic shapes, and illustrative linework in the detail that makes the poster almost feel like the cover of a retro sci-fi novel. The balance between the ship and the planetscape draws the viewer’s eye all the way through this design offering a glimpse into the new show. This 16”x24” print entitled “Discovery” fits right into his other book‐cover style offerings.

The second print comes from artist Cliff Cramp, who also designed the three limited edition prints shown above. His piece, “Beginnings” focuses on a close-up view of Michael Burnham in her space suit, harkening back to Discovery‘s premiere, where it all began.

The final two images are by artist J.J. Lendl and are his first contribution to Bye Bye Robot’s offerings. His prints combine vintage influenced style with the contemporary nature of Star Trek: Discovery. These two 18”x24” prints are entitled, “DISCO 1” and “DISCO2.” In them the viewer will find the use of muted colors, unique distressed textures, and detailed linework all combine together to give a retro feel to these new prints.

]]>16Dénes Househttp://www.trekmovie.comhttp://trekmovie.com/?p=539122018-02-16T22:32:26Z2018-02-16T21:10:16ZStar Trek Discovery capped off its freshman season this past Sunday in an episode that answered a lot of the questions posed through the season (click here to read TrekMovie’s review of the episode, and here for our podcast about it). The finale also raised a number of new questions that we’re eager to see answered in season two.

Red alert! The questions below will contain lots of spoilers for folks who have not watched the finale episode of the season, so proceed at your own risk.

How long will the big “E” stick around?

Perhaps the biggest surprise of the finale was the arrival of the of the USS Enterprise (no bloody A, B, C, or D!), reimagined in the Star Trek: Discovery style. The arrival of the ship was more than a cameo and Discovery’s producers have indicated that the Enterprise will play a role in season two, but not a dominant one. It’s possible the ship could just beam over Discovery’s new captain and be on its way, but the more intriguing possibility is that there will be more dealing with whatever was behind the finale’s cliffhanging priority one distress call. For now producers are not confirming if we will ever see the interior of the ship. Given Alex Kurtzman’s comments, if we see inside, we expect some kind of updated look that will pay homage to the original. And, if we see any of the crew, we won’t be surprised to see them wearing the standard Starfleet uniforms everyone else is wearing on Discovery too.

To boldly revisit where many have gone before …

Will we see Pike or Spock?

The finale established that the garbled distress call from the Enterprise came from Captain Pike, who commanded the ship before Kirk. If the Enterprise is sticking around, there is a good possibility they will be recasting Pike, originally played by Jeffrey Hunter in the Star Trek pilot “The Cage.” As the timing of the finale is only a few years after “The Cage,” it is quite possible a number of the other characters seen in that episode are on board and could show up on Discovery. One intriguing possibility is Dr. Boyce (originally played by John Hoyt) as we know the Discovery is down a doctor. And even if a character wasn’t seen in “The Cage,” there is no reason they couldn’t be on board, opening up the possibility of seeing any number of canon characters. Certainly the most intriguing notion is Mr. Spock. Based on canon, and knowing exchanges between Sarek and Michael Burnham, Star Trek’s most famous Vulcan is also on that ship. However, show producers have indicated they are not looking to recast such a major and iconic role.

Sir, those officers seem to be out of uniform.

Who will be sitting in the Captain’s chair?

Season one of Discovery ends with the ship en route to Vulcan to pick up their new Captain, with Saru in charge as acting captain. While there’s a bit of a fan movement to promote Saru to actual captain, it seems unlikely that the writers would set us up for an introduction only to pull it back. So, who this new captain? Online speculation has advanced a number of possibilities, including T’Pol (she’d be a spry 170 years old). Of course, just because the captain is on Vulcan, doesn’t mean the new captain is a Vulcan. A laundry list of minor characters are being speculated by fans, including Pike’s “Number One,” or even Pike himself. Then again, it could also be a brand-new character. Lorca (Jason Isaacs) proved to be a popular character with big shoes to fill, so we are hoping they continue that trend and come up with someone new.

Probably not this guy.

Now redeemed, what’s next for Michael Burnham?

The focal character for Star Trek: Discovery is Michael Burnham, and more than anything, the arc of the first season was about her redemption. The finale neatly book-ended her fall from grace in the season opener to being able to forgive herself for the betrayal of her captain. She was also reinstated with her rank as Commander and assigned as science officer for the Discovery. With the finale tying things up for Burnham, it opens up the question of what will the focus of her arc be for the second season, and beyond? The pilot opened with the possibility for her to get her own command, so is her ambition back? And if so, that could bring Burnham back into some conflict with her old friend and sometimes rival, Saru. The finale also saw Michael say goodbye to her first love. So, will she keep an ember burning for the Klingon/Human Tyler, or will someone new catch her eye? Maybe the new captain? The slate is blank for Michael now.

You won the war, now what are you going to do? Go to Disneyland?

What is the status (and future) of the spore drive?

Over the course of the first season, effectively using Discovery’s revolutionary Displacement Activated Spore Hub drive required either the ethically dubious use of a Tardigrade or a tardigrade-infused human, risking their mind to mycelial oblivion. So, the final moments of the finale had the ship returning to the use of old-fashioned warp drive. However, newly promoted Lt. Commander Stamets indicated that Starfleet is seeking a technological spore drive interface. Earlier episodes in the season seemed to be leading up to drive being determined to be too risky to use, but the finale indicates Starfleet is not ready to shelve it. And if the ship is in a jam, there doesn’t seem to be any reason for them to not take the risk and plug Stamets back in. In fact, co-showrunner Gretchen J. Berg said on After Trek, “you don’t own a Maserati and keep it in the garage.” So, the question remains then, why didn’t spore drive technology become widespread in the 23rd century and beyond?

They still know how to make spores, you know.

Without spore navigation, what is Stamets going to do with himself?

If Stamets’ days as the plug-and-play human interface for the spore drive are over, what will be his role on the ship? The Discovery is still a science ship, but Stamets’ spore “kiddos” are no longer driving it, so he’s going to have some time on his hands. There are 300 science labs on board, some of which were guarded when we first saw them, so there’s probably more weird science for Paul to get into. One strong possibility that would keep Paul playing with his space fungus is him trying to reconnect with his lost love, Hugh Culber, who was last seen hanging out in the mycelial network.

And will he remove those implants or keep them as a souvenir?

How will Discovery‘s war with the Klingons transition to the cold war we know?

The ending of the Klingon-Federation war in the finale felt a little too quick and simple. Just because L’Rell has a bomb doesn’t mean the 24 great houses are going to stay unified and happy to put the war behind them. Producers have said that they are moving on from the war story, but have also indicated that L’Rell and Tyler (formerly Voq) will play a part in the second season. We know that by the time of The Original Series, tensions with the Klingon Empire remain high with the Federation so it is unlikely there is much detente, and it is unclear if there will be an official armistice or treaty ending the war. The chances that L’Rell and her bomb can stop all her fellow Klingons from causing trouble for the Federation is low, so expect some flare ups in the second season. Side note: Do L’Rell and Tyler have to sleep in shifts if possession of that detonator is all that’s holding the Empire together?

L’Rell’s got her suit back, and a bomb, but is it enough?

And what does this mean for Tyler and L’Rell?

Speaking of Tyler, the finale showed him sort of re-embrace his origins as Voq, at least to some extent. He decided to stay with L’Rell to help her and to bridge the gap with the Federation. His transformation into a human may make it hard for him to continue his role as the “Torchbearer” of Klingon ideals and honor, as he could just become an object of scorn. Voq was already that before his transformation, and then failed in his mission anyway, so his chances of getting his status elevated now that he’s a human seem slim. And then there is Tyler’s extremely complicated love life. Will L’Rell and Tyler resume their romantic relationship? Will T’Lell become a thing? (Sorry, is that Ty’Rell?). Even though the Klingon War story line was not entirely satisfying, these two characters and actors stood out and hopefully they will be explored further in season two.

Reunited, but will it feel so good?

How can Starfleet — and Cornwell — rebuild with integrity?

Starfleet just fought a devastating war against the Klingons, losing one third of their ships and 20% of their territory, and in response, they came THIS close to committing genocide. How will Starfleet rebuild itself both physically and morally? Admiral Cornwell ordered the destruction of an entire planet, which is Terran Emperor-level bad guy stuff. Yes, she was fairly easily persuaded to shift gears, but will there be any repercussions for her and others – including Sarek – who were complicit in the ordering a war crime? These acts are not the kinds of things we expect from the Federation or Starfleet and hopefully the fallout from these decisions will not be just swept away.

Cornwell’s got some ‘splainin to do.

How will the Sarek family deal with this ‘reunion?’

We know from the TOS episode “Journey to Babel” that Spock and his father had not spoken to each other for eighteen years, and season one of Discovery ends just about halfway through that period. But Sarek is aboard the Discovery at the end of season one. How will they avoid speaking to each other, especially with Spock’s sister Michael aboard? Then again, let’s not forget that the Sarek-Spock feud was all about Spock’s choice to join Starfleet and Sarek’s disapproval of his choice. Having Sarek arrive on a starship full of glowing approval for Michael Burnham’s career choice is sure to reopen old wounds. (Shhh…don’t tell your brother about the genocide thing!).

Tell Captain Pike I’m not here.

What is Georgiou’s next move?

As former Terran Emperor Georgiou slinked off into the shadows a free woman, bound only by her non-existent conscience, what will she be up to in season two? We’ve seen Georgiou’s brutality; she spent her life devoted to building her own personal power and imposing her will on the rest of her universe. Why would she stop now? Will she team up with Orion pirates? Rebuild an empire? Will she do it all in that fabulous feathered cape? You don’t bring Michelle Yeoh back to life without a game plan and even though nothing has been said, it is a good bet she will be back in season two and probably causing some trouble.

If you love someone, it doesn’t always mean you should set them free …

What is the mission of the USS Discovery now?

Since it was introduced in episode three, the USS Discovery was a ship tasked to help win the war with the Klingons. With the war now over, what will the mission of the ship be? There was no indication in the finale as to where the ship was headed after it picked up the new captain on Vulcan. The ship was originally designed to be a science vessel, so perhaps it could be returning to its roots? Michael Burnham’s speech to Starfleet did talk about returning to “exploring strange new worlds,” something core to Starfleet and Star Trek since the beginning. The producers of the show have also talked about how the second season will look at the “collision of science and spirituality” which sounds pretty intriguing. We are hoping that we can get back to meeting some strange new life forms and new civilizations, and maybe not shooting at them.

Time for this disco to get back to the science party.

One thing’s for sure, the writers and producers of Star Trek: Discovery season two have a lot to think about. We are optimistic that they’ll find creative solutions to some of these questions, and will surprise us with a bunch more as well.

Star Trek: Discovery is available exclusively in the USA on CBS All Access. It airs in Canada on the Space Channel and is available on Netflix everywhere else.

]]>118TrekMovie.com Staffhttp://http://trekmovie.com/?p=539142018-02-16T15:45:38Z2018-02-16T15:45:38ZWilliam Shatner may be hoping to return to Star Trek, but he isn’t waiting by the phone. The multi-talented icon is keeping very busy, and his to-do list includes a return to music. Heartland Records Nashville just announced that Mr. Shatner has joined their roster of country music artists and he is currently working on a “very special project” that will be released later this year. No more details were provided, but Heartland promised more information was coming soon.

This would be Shatner’s first foray into country music for a music career that spans the decades starting with his first studio album The Transformed Man in 1968. Shatner’ fifth and latest release was the 2013 concept album of duets, Ponder the Mystery.

VIP to STLV contest

The original Captain Kirk is also involved in a new a charity contest to win a VIP trip to this summer’s Star Trek convention in Las Vegas. The winner of the contest and a guest will get flown to Vegas and put up in a 4-star hotel. Along with tickets to the convention, the winner will be Mr. Shatner’s “personal VIP guest” who will sit at all of his panels and be introduced to the audience. The winner also gets a “heart-to-heart” lunch with Mr. Shatner and gets to take photos with him as well.

Contest entries start at at $10 (which gets you 100 of ’em) and proceeds go to Shatner’s Hollywood Charity Horse Show. You can donate and get more information at Omaze.com.

Pimp your fan cave with Bill

Mr. Shatner also announced last night he is working on a “top secret project” for people who need help fixing up their “fan cave.” If you have a sci-fi themed room that needs help and you live in the LA area, Bill may be able to help you. More details in the tweet below.

Sssh! I’m working on a top secret project! Do you have a fan cave that needs help? Sci-fi kids room? Star Trek office? Do you live in The LA area? I want to help you redesign it!

]]>10Anthony Pascalehttps://trekmovie.comhttp://trekmovie.com/?p=538992018-02-16T03:31:13Z2018-02-16T03:31:13ZToday the CBS Corporation reported its 4th quarter results, which was followed by the usual call with CEO Leslie Moonves and investment analysts. One of the high notes he pointed to for the company was the continued growth of their direct-to-consumer streaming services. Showtime and CBS All Access were reported to have a combined base of close to 5 million subscribers, which Moonves clarified was split “about 50/50” between the two, or around 2.5 million for All Access.

Speaking specifically about All Access, Moonves talked about how the growth was driven by Star Trek, saying:

2017 was a breakout year for CBS All Access. We doubled our subs year over year and we kicked off our best month ever in January. We are driving this growth first and foremost with our content. This includes our big events like the NFL and the Grammys, more than 10,000 episodes of current and library programming, and our original series programming, lead by Star Trek: Discovery, which was obviously a runaway success.

The CEO said he had “great confidence” CBS will “more than exceed” their previously stated goal of reaching a combined 8 million subscribers for All Access and Showtime by 2020. The company is so bullish on streaming services, they are launching two more this year: CBS Sports HQ and an Entertainment Tonight branded service.

Speaking about what is next for All Access, Moonves confirmed Discovery is going into production in for its second season in April, and highlighted the March second season debut of The Good Fight which will be followed by two new series: Strange Angel and $1. He also said the new Twilight Zone series being developed by Jordan Peele is currently in pre-production. While not discussed in the call, earlier this week CBS also announced they renewed the comedy No Activity for a second season on All Access.

While discussing international licensing deals, Moonves again brought up Discovery as an example of how they decide when to license something:

Let’s go back to Star Trek, which was as expensive a production as we have ever done. We were just launching All Access. We got a huge amount of money from Netflix for the international rights and it made it very viable for All Access and we continue to do that.

CBS Viacom re-merger discussions continue

Last month we reported a possible re-merger between Viacom and CBS was being considered. Such a deal would bring Paramount Pictures and CBS back under one roof, allowing for possible better synergy with the Star Trek franchise. Since that first report, there has been additional movement with both corporations announcing they have created special committees to assess the potential merger. And CNBC has reported that last Friday CBS CEO Les Moonves met with Viacom CEO Bob Baksih to talk about the potential deal.

There has also been reporting that an acquisition of Lionsgate could also be involved, creating a possible 3-way merger. It seems with all the media consolidation going on, Viacom and CBS may feel compelled to increase scale, even if it is, as Variety puts it a “shotgun wedding.”

]]>149TrekMovie.com Staffhttp://http://trekmovie.com/?p=539002018-02-16T01:16:28Z2018-02-16T01:02:03ZStar Trek is helping science again. A biologist who was concerned about the practice of “predatory journals” willing to publish fake science submitted a test case to 10 open-access journals suspected of charging authors without going through the appropriate peer review and vetting they’ve paid for. The paper, titled “Rapid Genetic and Developmental Morphological Change Following Extreme Celerity” and written by “Lewis Zimmerman,” was actually based on the fictionalized effects of traveling at warp 10, as seen in the much-panned Star Trek: Voyager episode “Threshold.”

The effects of warp 10 travel on Captain Janeway and Tom Paris as seen in the episode were described in detail as an experiment. Here is how the paper described how the de-evolved Paris and Janeway mated:

Because of the high mutation rate, we sought to examine if fertility was impaired. Two subjects were allowed to breed, and a litter of three viable, motile progeny were produced with no obvious external physical deformity relative to the parents.

The paper is full of obvious clues to being both fictional and having its origins in Star Trek, even down to the acknowledgements:

We thank the UFP for financial support. The authors also thank B. Braga for helpful insights.

According to Space.com who talked to the biologist who wrote the paper, it went to 10 suspect journals with four accepting it and one (the American Research Journal of Biosciences) publishing it. It has since been removed from their site, but can still be seen using the magic of the Internet Wayback Machine.

Vulcans are getting new jackets

In local news, it was reported this week by the Vulcan Advocate that the Vulcan, Alberta city council members are getting new Star Trek-themed jackets. They approved over $4,000 in funds for a local resident to custom make new jackets as their old Trek jackets are getting too worn out. The price works out to about $620 per jacket, which was considered “on the high end,” but councilors were happy that the work was being done locally. The city council members wear their Star Trek jackets at various Trek-themed events, notably their annual “Spock Days” celebration.

Vulcan city councilors with their Trek jackets in 2010 when Leonard Nimoy visited

Video of the week: Kirk’s away mission where no man should go

A new mini cartoon from popular webcomic Cyanide & Happiness spoofed Star Trek and in particular the trope about Captain Kirk’s love life. In just a few days this cartoon has picked up almost 800k views. Warning, cartoon contains adult themes.

More great links: cataloging Trek’s AV losses, Star Wars copying and more DS9

Here are some more bits from across the internet that have caught our eye in the last week.

That’s it for this week’s update. Keep up with all the fun Star Trek from around the web with our Great Links category.

]]>11Shuttle Pod Crewhttp://www.trekmovie.comhttp://trekmovie.com/?p=538812018-02-15T17:57:25Z2018-02-15T17:57:25ZThe whole Shuttle Pod crew is back this week to discuss the season one finale of Star Trek: Discovery. So, take our hand (sorry) and dive into this season’s last episode of Shuttle Pod At The Disco.

Subscribe to Shuttle Pod: The TrekMovie.com Podcast on iTunes, Google Play Music and Pocket Casts! Like what you hear? Please feel free to leave us a glowing review on iTunes.

Written by Aaron Harberts and Gretchen J. Berg and Akvia Goldsman
Directed by Akvia Goldsman

At The Disco 14: “Will You Take My Hand?”

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Or grab the direct link to the podcast here

After a rocky penultimate episode and with so many narrative threads left in the balance, did Discovery pull off a satisfactory conclusion to its inaugural season? The short answer is yes… and no. There really isn’t a short answer, which is why we droned on for an hour and a half dissecting what worked — and what didn’t — in the finale.

Hang on, guys. We’re going in.

In general, many of the pieces that were there were utterly fantastic. As always, the actors brought their A game. The sets on Qo’nos were perhaps some of the best we’ve seen in any Trek TV show, ever. Tilly delighted as always, and her performance was only boosted by the addition of a familiar face who enhanced to a comedic overtone that really worked (plus Tranya).

But, think about this episode too hard, and the foundation — the parts of the storyline meant to tie the season’s arc into a nice bow — starts to crumble. Victory comes much too easy for our heroes, and as an audience, we’re not really convinced of why things worked out the way they did. As Jared so aptly pointed out, “they haven’t earned this.”

What did you think? Have a listen, and let us know in the comments!

]]>67TrekMovie.com Staffhttp://http://trekmovie.com/?p=538362018-02-15T00:21:36Z2018-02-15T00:21:36ZThere are a few more bits of Star Trek: Discovery news to catch up on, including more behind the scenes videos, and some of the actors revealing more about their roles and themselves. We also have an update on Discovery’s award season.

Behind the scenes in Orion Compound

Today CBS released an official video showcasing the shooting of the Orion Compound, with comments from L’Rell actress Mary Chieffo, executive producer/director Akiva Goldsman, and production designer Tamara Deverell.

Cornwell was supposed to die

In an interview with Den of Geek, actress Jayne Brook (Admiral Cornwell) revealed that originally she wasn’t going going to make it:

“Their original plan for Cornwell, when they called me last May and said, ‘Will you please play this Admiral?’, the idea at the moment is that she dies really heroically in her third episode.”

Originally, Cornwell wasn’t going to make it.

Cruz again confirms Culber is coming back

There has been some controversy since Dr. Culber was killed on Discovery, but the producers of the show and actor Wilson Cruz continue spread the message he is coming back (in some form) in season 2. An example of that was in a tweet sent out yesterday by Cruz to a fan complaining about the death of Culber.

See how Klingons are made

The Hollywood Reporter visited Alchemy Studios to talk to Mary Chieffo and the make-up artists that make Klingons for Discovery.

Martin-Green honored to be role model

Speaking to the official Star Trek site, Sonequa Martin-Green (Michael Burnham) spoke about the reaction of girls and boys of color to the show:

What really gets me is girls being able to see this story, being able to see themselves reflected in me and reflected in all the women in our show. And then it doesn’t stop with the girls. It continues with the boys. It’s just really being able to show our youth such a strong, heroic, sacrificial, utopian picture. It means everything. And then being able to see, within the show, the end of racism as we know it now and being able to see equality across the board, across universes, it’s wonderful. Yes, you see us battling with Klingons, you see the Federation and the Klingon Empire going toe to toe and you see the combating belief systems, but you see peace come in the end. I just feel you have to see a hero that looks like you in order to find the hero within, that’s for sure. So, it means a lot that people are seeing that we get to be here and get to be involved in our own way with the solution. We get to be the solution, and we get to show you what a solution could look like.

Sonequa Martin-Green strikes a heroic pose as Michael Burnham

Doug Jones defends Disco’s darker side

Speaking to Digital Spy, actor Doug Jones (Saru) reacted to how some fans have “mixed” views on the darker tone in Discovery:

“Television is very sophisticated now, and it’s very movie-like. It’s of a movie quality. We have a more cinematic show than the other Star Trek series before us, because we have to compete. And we have a huge budget – thank heavens for CBS! The reaction has been mixed with the darker material, sometimes, or the swear words, or whatever. But not being on broadcast television and being on a streaming service instead, they have the license and the freedom to do that. So they’re trying it all out, and I don’t blame them for that.”

Doug Jones OK with the darkness

Discovery beat out by Game of Thrones VFX

We previously reported that Discovery was nominated for two Visual Effects Society Awards: Visual Effects in a Photoreal Episode, and Outstanding Compositing in a Photoreal Episode. The winners were announced last night and unfortunately Discovery lost out in both categories to Game of Thrones.

Discovery has received some other nominations, including one by the Costume Designers Guild, and it was just announced that actor Wilson Cruz will be one of the presenters at the ceremony next week.

]]>101Matt Wrighthttps://trekmovie.comhttp://trekmovie.com/?p=538612018-02-14T19:06:06Z2018-02-14T18:35:46ZWhile there is still a lot to talk about with regard to Star Trek: Discovery which just wrapped up its first season, there is also some news to catch up on with TrekMovie’s adopted show, The Orville. Seth MacFarlane’s homage to Trek is gearing up to start production on its second season, which will include a new character. We also have some interesting behind the scenes details and videos on the making of the first season.

The Orville adds a new cast member

Earlier this week Deadline reported that The Orville has added Jessica Szohr to the cast for Season 2 as a new crew member. Szohr was mostly recently on Showtime’s Shameless. She’s also appeared on the recent Twin Peaks revival, and was part of the CW’s hit show Gossip Girl. Her casting in The Orville likely comes by way of being cast in MacFarlane’s 2015 movie Ted 2.

Cast and crew confirm season 2 production is ramping up

The second season of The Orville is expected to arrive later this year and production should be starting soon. In recent weeks we have seen members of the cast and crew sharing glimpses into their preparations to return to the Planetary Union.

Producer Jon Cassar

Mark Jackson (Isaac)

First meeting of 2018 tomorrow for Season 2 of @TheOrville wth @SethMacFarlane and the fanstically talented costume designer @JPorroDesigns Finding out what's in store for Isaac this year. What are your suggestions? I'm thinking copper and roller skates. #TheOrville

A look at the visual effects of The Orville

TrekMovie community member Kevin Martin interviewed The Orville‘s visual effects supervisor Luke McDonald about the work on season 1 for Studio Daily.

As we’ve covered previously, Seth MacFarlane likes physical models, so he went to TNG-era veteran Rob Legato to resurrect the art of filming physical models.

Of course for complex ship shots CGI is still used. By having the real model as a reference they were able to refine the CGI version so it looked nearly the same as the physical model:

The human eye and brain are very complex devices. Even if people can’t put a finger on what bothers them about a VFX shot, they will still decide something is off, which is the ‘CG-itis’ of a shot. Using those model shots as reference to get our CG close to that reality was so beneficial in offsetting that feel. The pilot actually used six or seven of these model shots, but now we’re moving away from that, using perhaps only one per episode, because we can replicate the model and lighting so well via digital means.

The final shooting model for the U.S.S. Orville

Another well known name in the visual effects industry is Tippet Studios, started by Phil Tippet, a founding member of ILM, he pioneered the stop-motion and creature animation for the original Star Wars trilogy. Tippet Studios was brought in to manage Yaphit.

We started out knowing there’d be a practical approach with makeup for most aliens, but we have an ongoing exception with our gelatinous crewmember Yaphit [voiced by Norm McDonald], who is handled in CG by Tippett Studio. That was a natural given their work on Seth’s Ted movies.

The gelatinous crew-member Yaphit

There’s even more behind the scenes information in the article, it’s a good quick read.

At the end of Boldly Go #15, we were introduced to an omniscient narrator, presumably the architect of this multiverse mess our heroes have been put in, who sounds an awful lot like Q, but isn’t Q. It’s an interesting narrative device – I can’t remember the last time a Star Trek comic acknowledged the reader – let alone insulted our “feeble human synapses” and “ape-like brains” (that’s a very Q-thing to say). “The sun to the Q’s candle,” as the narrator calls itself, pushes the reader between three universes – Kelvin Kirk, Jane Kirk, and Plant-Kirk (or, as gas-Scotty calls him, Plirk) not unlike Picard in “All Good Things” (more Q!).

Hey, what’s with the insults?

The narrator makes it clear that this is a Kirk(s) centered story and no matter the universe, certain patterns of his or her behavior are constant. Trust, bravery, and charm. These are arguably the basic traits that make up the Kirk we know. The narrative literally takes one trait and applies it to each of the three Kirks. It’s revealed that too much of one thing is not always good and that only a balance of all three traits makes it all work. Kelvin Kirk’s blind trust, Jane Kirk’s shoot-first bravery, and Plant Kirk’s charm each put them all into an all too familiar “no-win scenario.”

All together now!

As confusing as the previous issues were, this one is laid out a lot simpler – with 3 panels, each one representing each universe. It doesn’t flow like a traditional comic – but it allows you to choose how you want to read it. I found myself going back and forth between each story – reading each one individually – which wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. Angel Hernandez has drawn these characters before so his art is excellent. I still don’t understand how there can be a gas-based life form with a Scottish accent, that speaks English and looks like Simon Pegg, but he exists and Hernandez nailed it.

The only way to get him out of his capsule is to pull his finger.

Let’s start from the top with Kelvin Kirk. When we last left him, he was a prisoner of the female Khan, arms shackled. He is immediately sprung by android Sulu, Pavela Chekov, and Emo Spock as they race to escape from augments to a shuttle. Trust has worked so many times before for him, but now it gets tested. As we’ve seen so many times before, things are not always as they seem, nor are people.

Just wait for Korob and Sylvia

Next, Jane Kirk’s bravery is confused with arrogance. Instead of retreating from a very much alive Nero and living to fight another day, she decides to infiltrate the Narada just because she was successful in her universe. Running into a fire without a suit or a way to fight it is probably not the best course of action.

Phasers? Where we’re going we don’t need…phasers.

Finally, Plirk’s charm is what gets him into trouble. Now on Risa, it appears that he has only one thing on his mind. I just have so many questions about this…

This can only be described at Ménage à Tree.

Thankfully, everything gets pulled together in the end making it all work. I was worried that there would be yet another universe introduced in this issue, muddying the waters once again. That wasn’t the case and now we are focused on three different Kirks. The big bad has still yet to be revealed but it’s been fun trying to figure out who or what it could be. The issue ends on an epic cliffhanger so I’m anxious to see how things get wrapped up in the next two issues.

5-Page Preview: Star Trek Boldly Go #16

Click thumbnails to enlarge

Available Now

And if you want to catch up, the trade paperback collection of Star Trek: Boldly Go (volume 1, collection of issues #1-#6) is available now. It retails for $19.99. You can order from Amazon for 32% off. The second collection (issues 7-12) is was released January 9th, and can also be ordered at Amazon.

]]>3Brian Drewhttp://trekmovie.com/?p=538292018-02-13T22:25:06Z2018-02-13T18:43:49ZToday’s episode of Larry Nemecek’s “Trek Files” focused on a newly unearthed document from the days when Star Trek: The Next Generation was under development at Paramount. The document outlining the premise for the planned series, dated September 12, 1986, was sent by Paramount executive John Pike to Gene Roddenberry, and makes clear the studio was determined to move ahead on a new Star Trek series with or without a creative contribution from Roddenberry, who was reluctant to return.

A different Next Generation

The 8-page concept pitch, entitled “Star Trek: The Next Generation,” was conceived by producer Greg Strangis (War of the Worlds, Falcon Crest) over the summer of 1986 and is set during a 10-year war between the Federation and the Klingon Empire. It tells the story of the U.S.S. Odyssey, a ship ferrying a group of cadets on their first deep space assignment and tasked with delivering a document to Organia that could ultimately change the course of the war.

From the original Star Trek: Then Next Generation pitch

While some of the ideas in this concept can be seen in what ultimately became Star Trek: The Next Generation (such as a young Klingon officer as part of the crew), this original pitch bears little resemblance to the show that went on to have seven successful seasons. One of the more creative ideas was how the original captain dies in the pilot, but “continues to ‘live’ in the ship’s computer” as a hologram who can be summoned for advice.

And there are some elements that remind you this document comes from another era, such as the description of the ship’s weapons officer: “Painfully beautiful, Joyce is still fighting with the timeless battle of trying to be taken seriously while looking as lovely as she does.”

When I arrived at the meeting, Gene’s office was filled with a number of high-ranking studio executives. Gene didn’t want to do whatever they were proposing. Gene pounded the desk and the executives pounded back.

The meeting and memo ultimately spurred Roddenberry to jump back into the fray and create what we now know as The Next Generation, but it’s a fascinating glimpse into what might have been.

This pitch inspired Gene Roddenberry to return with his vision of a new Star Trek

Discovery echoes, and JJ Abrams Star Trek too

When reading through the memo you may be surprised how some of the elements echo with Star Trek: Discovery, including a captain – mentor to the show’s lead character who is also an orphan – being killed in the pilot during during a battle between the Federation and Klingons. That sounds a lot like Capt. Georgiou and Michael Burnham. There is also an alien from an “obscure” and “isolated” planet, which sounds a bit like Saru, and a brilliant young cadet who works under the wing of the show’s main character, not unlike Tilly.

In fact, the ship is almost entirely populated by cadets who end up being put into senior positions, which is something that happens in JJ Abrams 2009 Star Trek movie.

The lead character of this original TNG has some parallels with Michael Burnham

Found by Trek Files

Larry Nemecek discovered this memorandum while searching through Gene Roddenberry’s personal archive as part of his “Trek Files” podcast, where every week he examines a document from the archive and has a guest on to help provide insight and context. For this episode, Larry is joined by Dave Rossi, associate producer on Star Trek: Enterprise and the remastered Star Trek: The Original Series project in 2006, and longtime assistant to Rick Berman.

]]>208Anthony Pascalehttps://trekmovie.comhttp://trekmovie.com/?p=538182018-02-13T20:55:10Z2018-02-13T05:11:28ZSunday brought us the first season finale of Star Trek: Discovery and we here at TrekMovie are still talking about it. Our review last night discussed many of the references included in the episode and today we take a closer look and literally zoom in to spot some of the fun easter eggs we think the creative team left to find.

Earth Spacedock

In orbit around Earth you can see Earth Spacedock, which fist appeared in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock. For Discovery it appears to be under construction.

Lunar Cities

In Enterprise and The Next Generation it was established that there were multiple cities on the Earth’s moon, Luna, even before the 23rd century. These included Tycho City and New Berlin. The lights of these cities could be seen illuminating the Moon in the finale.

Praxis

When we see the Klingon homeworld Qo’noS we can also see a moon, which would be Praxis, the inhabited moon which exploded in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country.

Klingon Redundant Organs

It has been previously established that Klingon anatomy could be described as “overdesigned” or as Dr. Beverly Crusher put it on The Next Generation: “almost every vital function in their bodies has a built-in redundancy.” Klingons are said to have twenty-three ribs, two livers, an eight-chambered heart…and apparently two urinary tracts. This was evidenced by the two streams created by a Klingon urinating in the Orion Compound.

Ceti Eels

One of the street foods on offer in the Orion Compound were two creatures being fried up that appear to be Ceti Eels. These are Khan’s “pets” from Ceti Alpha V in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan which used to control the minds of Chekov and Captain Terrell.

Trill

Also spotted in the Orion Compound was what appeared to be a Trill woman getting a tattoo. Trill are a symbiotic species in the Federation, known for their spots. They were introduced in The Next Generation and mostly explored through the Deep Space Nine character Jadzia Dax.

Romulan Tent

Another thing to look for in the Orion Compound was a tent emblazoned with familiar looking symbols that appear to be the crest of the Romulan Star Empire. Maybe the Orions let them sponsor a Romulan Ale tent?

Clint Howard’s Tranya

A fun cameo for the Discovery season one finale was Clint Howard, making his fourth appearance in the franchise. His first was as a child in the original Star Trek episode “The Corbomite Maneuver.” In that episode his Balok famously enjoyed to drink tranya, which was served in a punch bowl. And in Discovery, Howard’s Orion also was seen with a punch bowl, and we are guessing it was full of tranya.

Paris

The medal ceremony in the finale took place at a Federation building in Paris. While San Francisco has often been used in Star Trek as it has long been established to be the home of Starfleet Headquarters, Paris is also an important city in Star Trek’s future. Paris is where the Office of the President of the Federation is located, first established in Star Trek VI, and presumably other important parts of the government of the United Federation of Planets.

Triangular Medals

Some of the Starfleet officers, including Admiral Cornwell, were seen with triangular decorations on their uniforms. Triangular medals have been seen before with dress uniforms from in the original Star Trek series.

Star Trek: Discovery is available exclusively in the USA on CBS All Access It airs in Canada on the Space Channel and is available on Netflix everywhere else.

If they were to show the Enterprise interior design, it would be “protective” of original

While Kurtzman emphasized how character stories have to match with TOS canon, when it comes to the look of the show, he gets more flexible. He wouldn’t confirm that they will be showing the interior of the USS Enterprise, but he did address how they would do it hypothetically:

Our goal is to be interpretive in a way that feels it’s protective of what the Enterprise would look like if, in theory, if we were to build any Enterprise sets. But if we built it like it looked in The Original Series, there would be a massive visual disconnect.

Tyler confirmed for season 2, issues with the Klingons may “flare up”

Last night’s article noted that the return of Shazad Latif as Tyler was indicated as likely, but Kurtzman confirmed the character will be back and gave some details on his arc.

Tyler/Voq has had a major evolution over the course of the season, and we love Shazad. He’s capable of absolutely everything we throw at him, and we have great plans for his character in season 2.

In a separate interview with Rotten Tomatoes, Kurtzman got into more detail about how the fallout from L’Rell ending the war will play out with the Klingons in season 2:

…just because we found a way for a truce to happen, does not mean that the Klingons are now happy with it. Look, we say that all the houses are divided, and L’Rell, through her ingenuity and with the help of Starfleet, is able to figure out a way to basically out chess maneuver them into making a choice they don’t want to make. In the episode right before, she’s extremely clear about it. She says, “We’re never going to stop until everybody is dead.” That’s just the way of the Klingons. There is a détente, that’s forced by ingenuity, but it does not mean that the Klingons have decided that everything’s fine. That problem could flare up at any point.

Leaders of the Klingon Houses

Shooting begins in April

In a separate article in Variety focused mainly on the music from the finale – including the recording Alexander Courage’s original Star Trek theme – Kurtzman also confirmed that shooting on the second season begins in April. He also confirmed that composer Jeff Russo will be back for season 2. As we reported previously, the writers have been hard at work since January 1st.

Star Trek: Discovery is available exclusively in the USA on CBS All Access It airs in Canada on the Space Channel and is available on Netflix everywhere else.

]]>174TrekMovie.com Staffhttp://http://trekmovie.com/?p=538022018-02-12T17:38:03Z2018-02-12T16:50:59ZThere have been some new official videos and photos released covering the season finale of Star Trek: Discovery. In addition, many of the cast and crew have been tweeting out fun behind the scenes glimpses from the shoot. We have gathered together the highlights below.

Mary Chieffo (L’Rell)

This was taken moments after we finished filming L’Rell’s speech to the High Council. Words cannot express enough how grateful I am to @reanolan for her countless hours of moral&technical support and dedication to L’Rell&the Klingon language. Qapla’ & love! #DiscoPartypic.twitter.com/GAOApOWtnH

]]>33TrekMovie.com Staffhttp://http://trekmovie.com/?p=537992018-02-12T16:10:41Z2018-02-12T06:29:15ZNOTE: Article discusses spoilers from the season one finale of Star Trek: Discovery

Following the eventful season one finale of Discovery and the surprising encounter with the USS Enterprise, executive producers of the show have been talking to various outlets (and appearing on the after show) to discuss the episode, and what’s next. We break down the highlights of what they had to say below.

Enterprise encounter planned shortly after Fuller departure, seen as inevitable

Speaking on After Trek, co-creator Alex Kutzman talked about how they worked backwards from the finale:

The whole season was reverse-engineered from knowing at the beginning where we wanted to end. For Sonequa’s arc and the bridge crew coming together as a family and knowing the Enterprise was going to show up as the last frame, because obviously we owe the audience some answers to the question of “Why has Spock never mentioned his half-sister before.” The Enterprise promises answers to that question.

While the decision to bring the Enterprise in came early, it was not conceived until after co-creator and original showrunner Bryan Fuller left the show in October 2016. New co-showrunner Aaron Harberts explained to The Hollywood Reporter:

Bryan wasn’t involved with this part. It definitely came later in the evolution. As we were charting out this season and what we wanted to do next season, we thought, ‘Let’s tell this story now.’

Speaking with IGN, Harberts explained their reasoning for introducing the Enterprise now:

…it seemed like we were gonna be running into the timeline and the time period of The Original Series. The more we thought about that … it became more and more apparent that those two ships existed at the same time. And the more that we realized oh, obviously Burnham and Sarek have a relationship, and Sarek has a relationship with Spock, and that ship that he’s on is out there, from very, very early on we knew [we’d bring in the Enterprise] probably because people would be wondering about it, and wanting [us] to. Like, there’s no real… it’s provocative for us too, so let’s just get there, and tell those stories.

This was planned a long time ago

Enterprise introduction allows sync with canon

The show is called ‘Discovery.’ It’s not ‘Enterprise.’ So yes, the Enterprise will play a part of Season 2 but it will absolutely not overshadow Discovery. And I think with Enterprise’s arrival in the finale we recognize that the audience has a lot of questions about our synchronicity with the original series, which really means or synchronicity with canon. So the promise of the Enterprise holds the answers to a lot of those questions, including Spock’s relationship with his half-sister who he’s never mentioned.

Harberts also spoke to this canon connection with IGN

And I think the other question that’s always been coming up, and it’s a fair question, is how did Discovery fit into canon? And by having them cross paths with Enterprise, that’s our opportunity to continue to tell that story and sort of fill the audience in on exactly where our ship fits.

Aware new design can spark controversy

Speaking to Inverse, Harberts acknowledged the the new look for the Enterprise is not going to be something fans agree on:

One thing I have learned is that I haven’t seen Star Trek fans be able to agree on anything. Some Star Trek fans are going to love the new design and some are going to hate it. But what people need to realize is that we’ve got visual artists, production designers, and our visual effects people, that are fans on staff. I just hope peoples’ ire or emotions don’t get in the way of enjoying the show. You have to embrace where you’re at now.

The USS Enterprise to play a role in season two

Don’t expect to see Spock

While they aren’t ruling it out, the executive producers made it clear in various interviews that the introduction of the Enterprise does not mean the introduction of Spock as a character on the show. Harberts told THR that they are not casting for the role and even expressed doubt that they ever could do so successfully, saying:

[W]e realize how incredible Leonard Nimoy and Zachary Quinto’s performances were and what [Star Trek movie director] J.J. Abrams and the original series were able to pull off with that character. Finding another actor that could even come close to what Leonard Nimoy did with the original portrayal, we’d never want to go down that road.

Lt. Commander Spock in 2265 in “The Cage”

Expect more spore-driving in Season 2 as Stamets finds his second act in life

Another late event in the season finale was Stamets giving up his job as the human component to make the spore drive work, but on After Trek co-showrunners Gretchen J. Berg and Aaron Harberts made it clear that isn’t the end of his story or the drive:

Gretchen: We have set up that there are some difficulties using it, but you don’t get a Maserati and then put it in the garage. I think we got to figure out some things, for the ship to run the way we love to see it run.

Aaron: The spore drive is such a metaphor for Stamets as well. Season 2 is all about his second act. He’s not driving the ship at the moment. He has lost the love of his life. So, we are going to be talking about how he pulls that together.

Paul’s time in the spore chamber is over apparently, but the drive lives on

Another hint that the last spore was significant

In episode 13 there was a moment when a single spore floated around the lab and landed on Tilly. When asked a question on After Trek about any lingering effects of the tardigrade DNA on Staments, Harberts pivoted to hint we should be keeping our eyes on another crewmember:

I think that fans should be thinking about what landed on Tilly.

One last spore

L’Rell and Tyler’s challenges for season 2

The showrunners strongly implied that Mary Chieffo and Shazad Latif would be back for season two as they discussed what their characters are facing after L’Rell takes command of the Klingon Empire:

Aaron: I think she can be trusted, she has proven that. I think the question is, can the other Klingons be trusted with her in charge?

Gretchen: L’Rell has a huge order in front of her, but I think the right person is in charge.

Aaron: The fact that Tyler has stayed with her and the fact that he has Voq’s memories is going to be a help.

They also talked about Tyler’s decision to stay with L’Rell:

Gretchen: As the Torchbearer, he is there to light the way for her and help her along. She is goign to need all the allies she can get. It is not going to be easy for Tyler, as looking like a human, whether he has access to Klingon memories, but he has committed to helping her at this time.

Aaron: As we look into season two, Tyler is definitely going to be questioning the wisdom of that decision. He is the ultimate expat.

L’Rell has work to do in season two, with help from Tyler

Season two will deal with spirituality and science, plus more Kelpiens

On After Trek, when the producers were asked if they could spoil anything for the second season, Harberts said:

I think one of the things we are really interested this year is the collision of science and spirituality. I think that is something moving from a war chapter. That’s something that excites us for this season.

And during a lighting round of questions, the producers were willing confirm season two will have more Kelpiens, more planets and more partying, but wouldn’t discuss if Prime Lorca survived in the Mirror Universe. Nor would they talk about who is set to be the captain of the USS Discovery.

Expect more Kelpiens in season 2

Star Trek: Discovery is available exclusively in the USA on CBS All Access It airs in Canada on the Space Channel and is available on Netflix everywhere else.

SPOILER-FREE REVIEW

“Will You Take My Hand?” wraps up the first season of Star Trek: Discovery with a solid episode that satisfies the main threads of the series so far. The character development is strong, with many of the arcs coming to a conclusion. The plot lines tie things up with some tropes and cliches along the way, but was still able to deliver some surprises. There is much to admire, notably the embrace of the ideals of Star Trek. But there are are also moments that take you out of the narrative, including some head-scratching story logic.

The cast is at the top of their game, with effective performances across the board. Guest star Michelle Yeoh continues to chew up the scenery as the Terran Emperor. Sonequa Martin-Green carries the episode as Michael Burnham’s journey is book-ended with the dramatic season opener.

The production design and costume teams also delivered some of their best work of the season. The finale brings welcome servings of world-building as well as copious fan service, with call-backs to earlier episodes of Discovery and from general Trek lore. However, there wasn’t as much action as one might hope for a season finale set to resolve a war.

The first season of the new Trek series ends by answering most of the remaining questions, while opening up some new lines of inquiry to discover in the future.

Sonequa Martin-Green as Michael Burnham; James Frain as Ambassador Sarek.

RECAP

[SPOILERS BELOW]

Best served cold

The episode begins by setting the stage and the stakes, with a Klingon armada approaching Earth as the USS Discovery approaches the Klingon home world of Qo’noS. Sorry, Emperor/Captain Georgiou doesn’t want us to call it a “home,” letting the bridge crew know the Klingons are all “animals.” The introduction is also set for us by a hard-boiled voice-over from Michael Burnham, telling a tale about defeating fear in war.

The opening bridge scene is one of many to evoke echoes of the season opener. Once again we have Michael Burnham, Saru, and Georgiou bantering. This time the sibling rivalry of Saru and Burnham has been replaced with a precision tag team passive-aggressive testing of Georgiou. And this Mirror Georgiou is not doing a good job of hiding her ruthlessness or showing the kind of fun camaraderie the real Captain Georgiou had in that first episode. Things descend into innuendos about the tastiness of Kelpiens in one of many moments in the episode that borders on the fine line between entertaining and corny.

You can have this Kelpien with a side of sass

As worked out in the previous episode, the plan is still to go to Qo’noS to do some recon for a planned Starfleet attack. Georgiou and Burnham visit the two resident Klingons on board to press them for information on which cave is best to jump the ship into on Qo’noS. The chat with L’Rell turns violent as she is clearly not ready to join #TeamFederation, mocking her torturers by telling them they have “already lost.” Luckily Voq-now-Tyler is more than happy to drop some knowledge about how the location of the Shrine of Molor is their best bet, and lucky for them the land has been given to the Orions, of green-skinned “Orion slave girl” fame.

I make these shock constraints look good

Throughout all of this Michelle Yeoh and Sonequa Martin-Green have a great dynamic, showing a new spin on the chemistry they have had since the first episode. Both seem to be trying to bring the other to their way of thinking and it isn’t clear if either of them are making any headway, but it is fun to watch.

Soon Georgiou puts together her Orion Sin City heist team by bringing in Tyler and Tilly, who has a wonderful moment of transitioning from Captain Georgiou fangirl to Emperor Georgiou realization dread. Burnham shutting down Tilly’s reflexive Terran salute was one of the funnier bits and just the start of Mary Wiseman’s track to carry much of the comic relief for this otherwise serious finale. Keeping with the heist-movie motif, Tilly is also given the mapping drone in a case with a hand-cuff lock.

Georgiou’s Four

With the team suitably decked out as “lowlifes”, they head out after Stamets spore-drops them into a cave under Qo’noS, exclaiming “Am I good or what?” Paul has been through a lot this season and even though Anthony Rapp has little to do this episode, he has fun with what he’s got. And the effects shot of the jump into the cave is one of the coolest for the season.

Hiding inside a volcano, what could possibly go wrong?

Qo’noS after dark

The action then moves to the Orion compound on Qo’noS, which was impressively realized in what may be some of the most elaborate single-episode sets for Star Trek ever. Everywhere you looked there is something more fascinating and weird to check out. This city was also well-populated, with a mix of Orions, Klingons out to have a good time, and other aliens. There is so much going on, it’s worth a second viewing to catch things like Ceti Eels on a grill, or a Trill girl getting a tattoo and more.

While having an Orion city on Qo’noS may seem incongruous and a thin excuse to have a stop in Space Vegas without wasting time going to a different planet, it actually makes a bit of sense. What better way for the Klingons to ensure Molor – who was defeated by the revered Kahless – never regains a powerful following. Giving the land of his temple to some amoral aliens keeps his followers on the fringe.

What happens in Orion Compound, stays in Orion Compound

After trading some of the hardware from Lorca’s menagerie of weapons it was time to hit the club for some sex, drugs and rock intel. The plan to seek out info on location of Molor’s temple was set in motion with some dialog from Georgiou saying “We’re not here for bread and circuses,” evoking the title of a classic Star Trek episode in a moment that was too winky for an episode that already was replete with plenty of more subtle and satisfying fan service.

Hopefully Starfleet Medical has cures for all the space bugs they pick up here

While Michael and Tyler played Klingon shuffleboard and Captain/Emperor Georgiou embraced the more overly-sexualized side of the Mirror Universe with a couple of Orion prostitutes, Tilly gets invited to a little hookah session with an Orion who has a very familiar face. In a delightful moment, Clint Howard makes his fourth appearance in the franchise, in a scene that echoed his first from back in 1966 when he played Balok as a child. This time instead of pushing Tranya, he was huffing vapors, which turned out to be an important volcanic plot point and also gets Tilly totally wasted.

Warning kids, tranya is a gateway drug

Michael and Tyler’s attempt to find information on the location of Molor’s shrine reveals just how much Voq is left as Tyler easily converses with some Klingbros and can gamble using Voq’s skill and knowledge. This all seems to hit Burnham hard as she is still dealing with his betrayal and her own past. The whole emotional moment was played well by the actors with very effective editing and pacing.

After coming up empty, Burnham opens up to Tyler about how her parents were killed by Klingons. In another powerful emotional scene, Sonequa Martin-Green and Shazad Latif break through for this episode and get to the core of their character arcs and the arc of the Klingon War. She has an epiphany about seeing the Klingons as people, as Tyler reveals he can see both sides through his unique perspective. Tyler, again using his knowledge of being Voq, gets the needed information about Molor’s temple, while Michael is having doubts about the mission, which is about to go south anyways.

Hey honey, should we get matching Klingon tattoos? Too soon?

As predicted by anyone paying attention, Georgiou had something to hide. This was no recon mission. There is no mapping drone in the case, as Tilly opens it up to find a “hydro bomb,” designed to make Qo’noS uninhabitable by activating the not-so-dormant-after-all volcanoes all across the planet. The Emperor – done having her fun with the two Orions – sucker-punches Tilly, takes the bomb and now we have a ticking clock.

Get ready for the pain Tilly

Let’s wrap it up

Back on the Discovery, the crew ring up Admiral Cornwell with Michael leading the charge and arguing against genocide. In case you didn’t get the parallel, Burnham brings up her mutiny in the pilot, saying this time she is ready to defy orders for the right reasons. And in a “I am Spartacus” moment, Saru and the rest of the crew rise to join her, letting the admiral know despite the threat to the Federation, they “are Starfleet” and war crimes just aren’t on their todo list for the day.

Do we have to start an apocalypse? We don’t wanna

Michael finds the Emperor in the ruins and lets her know she talked the Federation out of her dastardly plan of “planetary slaughter.” Of course, being an evil emperor, she still wants to go through with it, as it will somehow help her rise to power or something. It finally sinks in to Michael that this Georgiou is not going to be a suitable substitute for her dead captain. However, Burnham still can manipulate the tiny bit of Georgiou’s sentimentality for her dead Mirror daughter to get her to relinquish the bomb’s detonator. And – inexplicably – they just let the Emperor go with her pardon in hand and a “Be good, Philippa,” which might as well have been “see you in a guest arc in season 2.”

Bye, Felicia Philippa

Plan B is to give the detonator to a surprised L’Rell, now back in her Klingon regalia. It falls to Tyler, reverting to Voq-mode, to inspire her to take on the mantle of leadership. This moment leads to their love rhombus finally coming full circle as Tyler tells Michael he is going to stay with L’Rell. Once you get past scratching your head about why Starfleet would let this former spy with classified info go, you are rewarded with a powerful goodbye scene, complete with obligatory kiss.

Who knew loving a Human/Klingon hybrid would be so complicated

The Klingon-Federation War ends with L’Rell using the bomb to strong-arm the Klingon High Council in their volcanic chamber. This former prisoner faces mockery from the assembled leaders of the fractured houses, but they pay attention when she whips out her iPad to show them her favorite new game app is Planet Crush. You almost expect Threepio to show up and decry “she’s holding a thermal detonator!” Once again Mary Chieffo proves why she is the season one Klingon who has risen to the top and deserves to reunify the houses with a speech mixing threats with calls to a return to honor. So, this conquering-obsessed race on the verge of ultimate victory decides pack up their warriors and bring the fleets home. That was easy…

While I have you guys in a buying mood, anyone interested in a time share on Risa?

Everyone is a winner

The war arc was wrapped up quickly to give us an extended coda, complete with medal ceremony akin to the end of JJ Abrams’ first Star Trek. Stamets gets promoted to Lieutenant Commander, Culber gets remembered, Tilly is now an ensign on the command track, and Saru is the first Kelpien to get Starfleet’s Medal of Honor. Detmer, Airiam, and the rest of the bridge gang are there and it seems everyone is getting a medal too, except Chewbacca, screwed again.

These awards shows always run late

Michael Burnham is also allowed to give an extended speech, which was previewed in her voice-over from the beginning of the episode. The former mutineer reminds the assembled guests – including those complicit in the recent attempted genocide – that the Federation and Starfleet are all about righteousness and goodness and exploring strange new worlds. While this should be a feel good Star Trek moment, it felt a bit forced and a bit too much.

More satisfying were quiet character moments, including Michael and her mother Amanda, with Mia Kirshner ably returning to the role. Once again there is a nice callback to something earlier in the season, showing that Michael now understands her mother’s advice to never forget her humanity. And it was left to her father Sarek to give Michael the big news that all was forgiven and she was returned to the rank of Commander. While a nice scene, it still feels like this later season Sarek is too sentimental compared to the ice cold Sarek seen in “Lethe” and will later be seen in “Journey to Babel.”

Sarek family enjoys some PDA while away from Vulcan

The episode – and season – ends with a classic light mood on the bridge, with our crew bantering like old pals. Tilly is excited to see Vulcan, Stamets is happy to let the ship just warp, awaiting some new way to use the spore drive that doesn’t involve hooking him up to the mycelial network and Saru notes he is only the acting captain until they pick up the unnamed new captain on Vulcan. Sarek is also hitching a ride home for fun.

Anyone here think we can get out of this episode without something else happening?

Of course that wasn’t the end, as this is Discovery and so we need to get our twist on. This week’s surprise arrives via a priority one distress call from a Starfleet vessel. Little hints on the ID of said vessel start dropping until it is revealed to be Captain Christopher Pike’s USS Enterprise. We don’t see or hear from any of the crew, which includes Mr. Spock, but we did see the ship come into view in a wonderful reveal. This may have been predicted, but it should still be an emotional thrill for any Trek fan.

Complete with classic music cues, Starfleet’s famed NCC-1701 fills the screen, and comes nose-to-nose with the USS Discovery. And with that huge moment to keep fans chattering during the gap between seasons, we fade out into Alexander Courage’s theme for the original Star Trek over the Discovery end credits.

Entersurprise!

ANALYSIS

Deus Ex Michaela

While “Will You Take My Hand?” succinctly ended the first season arc for Discovery, the conclusion to the Klingon-Federation War felt rushed and doesn’t entirely make sense. Based on everything we know about Klingons, it is hard to imagine a bomb threat and talk of losing their way is enough for them to hand back all their victories and give L’Rell the keys to the Empire.

Even the head of her own House of Mo’Kai (Ujilli) was seen laughing at her, and he was right. A good speech may be how the Federation can be swayed, but persuasion on Qo’noS should require some action. Something like Michael Corleone’s “Baptism of Fire” path to leadership would have been more the Klingon way; perhaps using a targeted version of the hydro bomb to take out some or all the heads of other houses. And it wouldn’t have hurt for the Federation to show an act of courage and honor along the way to get the Klingons respect. Wasn’t that the whole point of the concept of “The Vulcan Hello?”

While the trip to Orion Town was fun, it was another lost opportunity for Discovery to fulfill its promise to explore the Klingons as “the other.” We spent an episode on Qo’noS yet learned very little about the Klingons. Time might have been better spent with L’Rell as part of the plan from the beginning with her and Voq/Tyler and Burnham learning to trust and sympathize with each other to find a way to peace.

Yes, it was satisfying that the ideals of the Federation were upheld and part of the solution for the episode. However, the entire set up of the Federation badly losing a war, handing the Discovery to the Emperor and the agreement to wipe out Qo’noS was an absurd straw man for Burmham and the Discovery crew to take down. One would hope the bar for testing Federation idealism is higher than a “yes” or “no” on genocide.

It’s not that the plot was handled poorly. The war was concluded, the idealism of the Federation and Starfleet was reinforced and we are off to more adventures in season two. However, it just feels like there was so much potential to do better with the Klingon-Federation war arc, not just in this episode but throughout the season.

Fine, be that way, we’re leaving!

This disco is a family

The best thing about this finale is how it deals with the characters, which is what it is all about in the end. Across the board we learn more about each of our characters as they grow and close important chapters on their arcs.

Like all good ‘Peak TV’ aspiring shows, Discovery was replete with broken and flawed characters. In this finale, the crew has grown and learned through the trials and tribulations of the previous 14 episodes to become their better selves. Paul Stamets is no longer the gruff curmudgeon, but is now affably effective. Without losing her vitality, Tilly has been tempered and is able to demonstrate strength and resolve. Saru has used his instincts as a prey species to find courage and confidence as a leader.

We learn more about Tyler as he literally holds on to the rope of his humanity. Perhaps the most troubled character of them all, this transformed Klingon has finally found peace with his dual nature and is ready to return to his people to bear the torch of hope he has learned from his time being human.

Most fulfilling of all is the resolution of Burnham’s journey, which has been the biggest through line for the series so far. We ache for Michael as she struggles through the guilt of the death of her parents. We feel for her as she finds a way to forgive herself and we can rejoice with her as she is able to learn from her past to lead this family back to the light.

I’m back, baby

USS Twisterprise

The season ended with the exciting – and emotional for Trek fans – introduction of the USS Enterprise. The famed ship of the original Star Trek wasn’t just a cameo – it will apparently play a role in the second season, which is a risky but intriguing idea sure to keep the buzz going during the hiatus.

The ship we saw has been re-interpreted to be both familiar to the classic look, but also fit well within the aesthetic of Discovery. The effects work was impressive, as the ship has been updated beautifully for a modern audience used to how Starfleet ships look on this new show.

Of course with the look of so many things in Discovery being different than the traditional style of the TOS-era, it is no surprise that the USS Enterprise was handled differently. Star Trek: Discovery is a new show and its creators should be given the latitude to both expand the canon and to fulfill their own design vision. They should not be shackled to paint within the lines and as I wrote in an editorial after the first trailer was released “I just can’t get too worked up over aesthetics as long as they are ‘in the zone.’” I still believe that.

Upon reflection, I am of two minds about the Enterprise. It was wonderful and exciting and a very respectful and beautiful redesign that works well with the show. However, redesigning the Enterprise could be also be seen as unnecessary and possibly counter-productive.

Even though Discovery is a visual reboot in terms of tech and style, it is still part of the canon of the Prime universe of Trek lore. One way this show could have made that clear was to leave this one element alone, as it has been handled on other Trek series that have shown the classic USS Enterprise. The ships of Star Trek are characters and the most iconic of them all is the original Enterprise. Seeing it in its original glory – perhaps with some more detail and fitting within the lighting scheme of Discovery – could have been a great way to honor how this new series is part of that Trek history. And it could have put to rest the continuing debate on if the show truly is part of the prime timeline.

That being said, with the new Enterprise playing a part in the second season, and not just a cameo for the season one finale, it seems reasonable that the ship has been updated to work with the show along with all the other many elements that are part of this visual (but not story) reboot of Star Trek.

I’m the USS Enterprise, really

Discovery’s adventure is just beginning

“Will You Take My Hand?” is a surprisingly character-focused season finale that wraps up the big arcs for the season and sets up some mystery for season two. This initial journey of Michael Burnham and the crew of the USS Discovery feels fulfilled, even with a rushed story that had some head-scratching logic. At times a bit hokey and maybe straining the fourth wall, the episode also paid off fans of the series and the franchise with plenty of callbacks.

The cliffhanger twist with the redesigned USS Enterprise may dominate much discussion about the episode, but what’s more important is that we now have a ship and crew that seems ready to start exploring strange new worlds and seeking out some new and exciting stories for the next season, and beyond.

OK, galaxy. We’re ready. What else you got?

Random thoughts, connections, easter eggs

The “Previously on Discovery” voice over was done in Klingon by Mary Chieffo (L’Rell).

How did the USS Discovery get so close to Qo’noS without being attacked? Or maybe it fought all the way to the heart of the Empire in a cool series of unseen battles? Would it kill these guys to give us some hot ship-on-ship action?

It was revealed that Georgiou is from Malaysia, just like Michelle Yeoh.

Georgiou’s group was referred to using 24th century (and sometimes 22nd century) term “away team” instead of the usual 23rd century parlance “landing party.”

With the exception of a long-distance distorted shot in Star Trek: First Contact, this episode featured Trek’s first urination scene and it was a “two-fer,” as the Discovery production team takes the idea that Klingons have redundant organs a bit too far.

Tilly eats some “delicious” street meat before finding out it was gormagander space whale from episode 7.

Even with all the scantily clad people around there was no graphic nudity. While Discovery has occasionally pushed into TV-MA territory with language and violence, this so far appears to be a line they aren’t willing to cross.

Add to the list of Tilly proclivities and ailments, she has a “very narrow esophagus.”

]]>365TrekMovie.com Staffhttp://http://trekmovie.com/?p=537662018-02-11T23:36:58Z2018-02-11T23:36:58ZWhile he was shutout of an Oscar nomination for his role in Logan, Sir Patrick Stewart was selected by the Academy to host last night’s Scientific and Technical Awards. Opening the show, the former Star Trek: The Next Generation star lamented about being peppered with questions such as what was the resolution difference between viewscreens on Galaxy Class and Constitution Class starships. Stewart added: “I wouldn’t know the difference between a warp core breach and a space-time continuum if they got into bed with me.”

For more on Stewart’s helming of the Scientific and Technical Awards show, see Variety’s report.

More Celeb News

Here are some of the latest bits of Star Trek celebrity news for the week.

Doug Jones (DSC: Saru) has been cast in a new FX comedy pilot What We Do In The Shadows along with Beanie Feldstein, Jake McDorman, and Mark Proksch. According to Variety “The details of their roles are being kept under wraps, but all four will potentially recur on the show should it get ordered to series.”

Zoe Saldana (Kelvin movies: Uhura) says that she wants to break out of sci-fi. Known for her roles in Star Trek, Avatar, and Guaridans of the Galaxy, the actress tells the Evening Standard “I wasn’t expecting the films to be as massive as they were. I knew that they were special because they had special directors behind them and an interesting cast. But the moment these films became blockbusters and then they became franchises they became completely out of my control.”

Saldana is also the new face of Compari and stars in a short film sponsored by the brand, titled Legend of the Red Hand which you can watch below.

Scott Bakula (ENT: Jonathan Archer) talks about his long career from Quantum Leap to his current show NCIS: New Orleans to his time on Star Trek: Enterprise in a new interview with Entertainment Weekly. Regarding his time with Trek he said he liked the role of a prequel because he “didn’t want to follow anyone.” Check out the interview below in Scott’s tweet.

Episode 15 Preview: “Will You Take My Hand?”

Star Trek: Discovery – Season 1, Episode 15

With Georgiou at the helm of the plan to end the Klingon war once and for all, the U.S.S. Discovery crew struggles to fathom and tolerate her hostile tactics. Memories of past hardships are rekindled within Burnham.

The episode will be available in the US on CBS All Access at 8:30 pm ET (5:30 PT). In Canada it airs on the Space Channel at 8:00 pm ET (5:00 pm PT). And it will be available on Netflix outside the USA and Canada on Monday at 8 am BST.

Yeah, tomorrow night for the @startrekcbs season 1 finale, a bunch of us are going to be LIVE TWEETING. I find it intimidating to think about what I’m going to tweet about but I’ve been assured it’s going to be ok for everyone involved. https://t.co/cFH0XCBxgL

Will my skinny Kelpien ass ever make it back into that coveted captain’s chair on the U.S.S. Discovery? Find out TOMORROW night! @startrekcbs Season 1 Finale!A few of us from the cast & crew will be live-tweeting, starting at the 8:30pET/5:30pPT release! (Will avoid spoilers). pic.twitter.com/ni1UrBfSsN

Followed by ‘After Trek’ episode 14

The fourteenth episode of the Discovery after-show After Trek streams on CBS All Access tonight at 9:30 pm ET. Actor’s Sonequa Martin-Green and Anthony Rapp will be in house, while co-creator Alex Kurtzman, and show-runners Aaron Harberts and Gretchen Berg will be joining the discussion from LA.

After Trek also airs on Space in Canada at midnight ET and will be available on Netflix later in the week.

What say you?

TrekMovie will be posting a full review of “Will You Take My Hand?” later. But you don’t have to wait to offer your views in the comments below.

]]>49TrekMovie.com Staffhttp://http://trekmovie.com/?p=537542018-02-10T03:23:48Z2018-02-10T02:02:15ZCast and crew of Star Trek: Discovery have been doing some interviews that have appeared online today. We have highlights from those and a new clip from Sunday’s season one finale below.

New Clip: L’Rell v Emperor

Here is a new clip (via NY Post) featuring Emperor Georgiou and L’Rell from episode 15 “Will You Take My Hand?”

Tyler has a big choice to make for the finale

Speaking to the New York Post, co-showrunner Aaron Harberts spoke about Tyler in the finale:

“Tyler makes a pretty big choice during the finale that makes sense for where he’s at…”

Tilly will be integral to finale

Well, we are going to have to deal with this war that we have just phased back into, what is it, nine months later? So, we have to figure out what we’re going to do, because we’re losing and we have to do some really creative thinking to try to push through this. Tilly will be integral to that, and she’ll get to put her theoretical physicist/theoretical engineer hat on and help figure that out.

Burnham and Georgiou’s role reversal in the finale

Michelle Yeoh spoke about the relationship with the Emperor and Michal Burnham (via IndieWire)

“I think I see it almost like a role reversal right now, with Captain Phillipa Georgiou to Michael Burnham at the beginning where she was trying to instill humanity with Michael Burnham, and help her to think and believe that it is okay to feel emotions and be human. Captain Phillipa was the one who was teaching Michael Burnham. But now, it seems that Michael Burnham is the one who needs to help Emperor Georgiou find her humanity. You see her softening when she was fighting next to Michael Burnham — she feels like her daughter was there. So, I think this bond is never gonna go away from the two of them, and it will be interesting if in the future journeys, they can help each other find that again.”

Having fun on the Klingon homeworld in the finale

We’re going to KRONOS. [laughs] I’m so looking forward to it, because when we filmed that, we had a lot of fun. But it’s an important part of the story, but you’ll have to wait and see. It’s coming soon!

Season 2 will embrace the light

Aaron Harberts on season 2 (via NY Post):

“This was a show about war and has been a dark, dark tunnel and you have to go through the darkness to get to the light. ‘Star Trek’ ultimately is a show about hope, optimism, peace … It’s that spirit that we will be taking into Season 2.”

Tyler’s return in season 2?

Speaking to Verge, Aaron Harberts hinted that Shazad Latif will be back next season.

“Ash Tyler is still caught between two worlds. He’s had to put a lot of that aside, because there was a war to win. He’s going to have a lot to unpack when this conflict is over. As writers, we find his story super-compelling, and it would be a shame, just when we’re getting started, to stop now.”

Sculpture finale clue

Harberts also tweeted out a photo of a piece of classical-styled sculpture, and later noted that the title of said sculpture (which he did not reveal) is a spoiler for the season finale. He promised to reveal all after the finale on Sunday and tweet out behind the scenes pictures as well.

The season finale of Star Trek: Discovery will be available on CBS All Access on Sunday, February 11th by 8:30 pm ET. It will air in Canada on the Space Channel at 8:00 pm ET the same day, and be available on Netflix outside the USA and Canada on Monday, February 12th at 8 am GMT.

Here is what Turteatern says you will experience at their “Visit Qo’noS” events:

You will get the possibility to try cuisine, listen to opera, and a chance to acquire useful lifesaving tips in your everyday interaction with Klingons and Klingon customs, so that you may plan your holiday to our great empire and the First City on the planet Qo’noS without risking any discomfort and/or premature death.

Visit Qo’noS (Photo: Chrisander Brun)

Turteatern is holding four performances a week through the end of March in both Klingon and English. According to the AP report on the opening, the lobby of the Turteatern has displays offering vacation packages to Qo’nos, extolling the merits of Klingon culinary tours (“the best kept secret of the Beta Quadrant”), and seeking to attract students to courses at the military academy (“find your inner warrior in outer space”).

A message about Discovery

You will note that the Klingons seen at this performance are the traditionally known Klingons and not the re-imagined Klingons from Star Trek: Discovery. This is addressed in the performance by “Ambassador Ban’Shee of the House of Duras” who has this message for Quentin Tarantino, who is working with J.J. Abrams developing a possible Star Trek feature film:

“We have seen Discovery. We do not approve of this malicious portrayal of Klingons…Treat our race honorably in your upcoming picture and we will let you lick our feet. Fail, and pray for mercy.”

Here is video (via AP) from the opening performance including Ambassador Ban’Shee’s message about Discovery.

]]>18TrekMovie.com Staffhttp://http://trekmovie.com/?p=537422018-02-09T22:42:38Z2018-02-09T18:38:21ZThis weekend is the season finale of Star Trek: Discovery and we here at TrekMovie aren’t the only ones speculating and reflecting on the moment. We have gathered some highlights from across the web to get you ready for the big day.

Fan-made Disco-ized Enterprise

The inclusion of the USS Enterprise in the season finale is a subject of much speculation, and so one fan decided to make their own. The following Discovery version of the USS Enterprise was posted on Vimeo by fan Carlos Daniel.

Saru II Men

On last Sunday’s After Trek, actor and Discovery fan Justin Simien suggested that someone should make a video with the scene of Mirror Saru bathing Michael Burnham with the music of Boyz II Men song “I’ll Make Love to You.” Trek fan Sarah (@minervamoon on Twitter) obliged.

More Pre-finale Disco Bits

As the finale approaches a number of people across the web are starting to reflect on what it all means.

The season finale of Star Trek: Discovery will be available on CBS All Access on Sunday, February 11th by 8:30 pm ET. It will air in Canada on the Space Channel at 8:00 pm ET the same day, and be available on Netflix outside the USA and Canada on Monday, February 12th at 8 am GMT.

]]>37TrekMovie.com Staffhttp://http://trekmovie.com/?p=537312018-02-09T13:38:17Z2018-02-09T01:02:45ZCBS has just released eight new images from this weekend’s season finale of Star Trek: Discovery. Episode 15 is titled “Will You Take My Hand?” The episode features guest stars James Frain as Sarek and Michelle Yeoh as (Mirror) Philippa Georgiou.

Episode Description

With Georgiou at the helm of the plan to end the Klingon war once and for all, the U.S.S. Discovery crew struggles to fathom and tolerate her hostile tactics. Memories of past hardships are rekindled within Burnham.

Photos

Michelle Yeoh as Philippa Georgiou

Mary Wiseman as Sylvia Tilly

Sonequa Martin-Green as Michael Burnham

James Frain as Ambassador Sarek

Sonequa Martin-Green as Michael Burnham and James Frain as Sarek

Sonequa Martin-Green as Michael Burnham

James Frain as Ambassador Sarek and Doug Jones as Saru

Behind-the-scenes coverage

Episode 15 of Star Trek: Discovery will be available on CBS All Access on Sunday, February 11th by 8:30 pm ET. It will air in Canada on the Space Channel at 8:00 pm ET the same day, and be available on Netflix outside the USA and Canada on Monday, February 12th at 8 am GMT.

]]>100Iain Robertsonhttps://www.trekmovie.comhttp://trekmovie.com/?p=536952018-02-09T14:09:03Z2018-02-08T05:17:08ZThe first season of Star Trek: Discovery concludes this Sunday with the final episode, “Will You Take My Hand?” As you can see in our preview analysis, we know the ship, now under the temporary command of Emperor Georgiou, undertakes a hazardous mission to map the Klingon homeworld Qo’noS in anticipation of a Federation strike. Burnham, Tilly, Tyler and Georgiou also undertake another secret mission involving an alien city and an exotic nightclub; a Klingon armada launches an assault on a planet; L’Rell has an unpleasant confrontation with the Emperor, and Burnham clashes with Cornwell over adhering to Federation principles during times of war.

But what else might happen in the finale? Let’s take a look at a few likely (and not so likely) possibilities:

There’s a last-minute twist

Probability: 99.9%

With Discovery’s habit of dropping a huge revelation on us just before the end credits (they don’t know where they are! Mirror Georgiou! Mirror Lorca! Mirror Georgiou again!) there’s almost no way the show is going to wrap everything up neatly and call it a day. But what will it be? Time travel? The return of Lorca? A character or ship from another series showing up? A last-minute death? All of the above?

The end of the Klingon war

Probability: 99%

We were told Discovery would tell the story of the epic war between the Klingons and the Federation, looking at the motivations and consequences from each side, which could have been great. The Dominion War gave Deep Space Nine a perspective on Trek we’d never had before, with Starfleet officers and ideals tested to their limits, and it’s something that Discovery could have done brilliantly. Somewhere, someone decided that storyline wasn’t working out and the war got quietly relegated to the background. Will the war carry on into next season? Frankly there’s more chance of Ripper returning wearing a sparkly costume and belting out show tunes.

The crew unites against Emperor Georgiou

Probability: 95%

The Emperor’s the antithesis of everything the Federation stands for, and, even though their situation’s desperate, giving her command of Starfleet’s most important starship was a bizarre decision. She’s obviously up to something nefarious (we’ll guess she’s planning to destroy Qo’noS) so it’s only a matter of time before she crosses the line with the crew. And what better way to complete Burnham’s arc for this season than to have her redeem herself by standing up to another version of Georgiou and successfully stopping the war she started?

Tilly swears

Probability: 75%

Sylvia Tilly has been one of the unexpected delights of Discovery. While her combination of youthful exuberance and smarts could have caused a case of Wesley Crusher syndrome, she’s grown to become one of the show’s most endearing characters. Her potty mouth has proven somewhat less of a hit with certain areas of fandom though. Amongst other delights, she’s become the first onscreen character in Trek history to drop the F-bomb. Will she let out a “colorful metaphor” during a particularly tense moment? Seems likely.

The Enterprise appears

Probability: 50%

Much as we’re hopeful the greatest ship in Starfleet history will show up eventually, we’re unsure if they’ll drop it on us this season. We’ve yet to see a Constitution Class ship in Discovery, other than a wireframe diagram of the Defiant, so we’re due one. In Discovery’s timeframe, Pike’s in command of the USS Enterprise with Spock serving as science officer, meaning a potentially awkward family reunion for Burnham. The Enterprise showing up in the last scene would make for one hell of a cliffhanger.

Discovery fan art by Damien Devlin

Discovery gets a new captain

Probability: 47%

With the Federation’s survival at stake, it’s unlikely Starfleet will get to the small matter of appointing a new captain for the Discovery until next season, as we are assuming Emperor Georgiou’s time in the big chair won’t last. Should they somehow find time, there are a few potential candidates. Saru has grown as a leader over the course of a season. It’s hard to imagine the risk-averse Kelpien we met in “The Vulcan Hello” sanctioning a move as risky as the one he used to escape the mirror universe. Although it’s her likely destiny, Burnham’s probably not quite ready for the big chair yet. They could give it to Airiam; she might even get a few lines then! Or someone new?

L’Rell joins the crew

Probability: 33%

While the redesigned Klingons have been hit and miss, Mary Chieffo has been superb as L’Rell, even if she’s spent the entire second half of the season in the brig. It would be a shame if she didn’t stick around for season two. Could she join the crew as some kind of advisor? Or, if Tyler isn’t reinstated as chief of security, could she take that role? Apparently, Klingons are quite good at that.

The show hits a great big “reset button”

Probability: 30%

The current situation with the Klingons presents an interesting continuity dilemma. On one hand, there’s never been an on-screen reference to the Federation being nearly wiped out by the Klingons. One reason may be that in the course of this episode something happens – possibly another spore jump – that resets the timeline. On the other hand, the Starfleet shown in The Original Series seemed to be significantly smaller and less advanced than that in Discovery. A depleted Federation rebuilding after a devastating war would quite neatly deal with that.

A main character dies

Probability: 25%

With the high body count so far on Discovery, we’d be amazed if everyone makes it to the end credits in one piece. After losing Lorca already, we’re going to say the rest of the main cast will be fine. Supporting cast though? That’s a different matter entirely. Emperor Georgiou might as well have “dead (fake) captain walking” tattooed on her forehead. And, call us sadists, but we’d like it if they brought Ensign Connor back again, just to kill him for a third time.

Actual nudity

Probability: 20%

Discovery has broken many Trek taboos, with swearing, graphic violence and sex scenes all having their fair share of screen time. But so far (L’Rell’s impressive prosthetic body aside) it’s shied away from nudity. The likes of Patrick Stewart and Jolene Blalock have done nude scenes in Trek previously, but they were fairly tame. That could be about to change though, as the finale sees Burnham’s team visiting what seems to be an alien strip club. Is the show about to inflict space boobs on us? We’re not ruling it out.

Black badges

Probability: 18%

The seriously cool black badges appeared when Burnham first boarded the Discovery in “Context Is For Kings,” and never since. Will we find out what they represent? Are they to do with another of Discovery’s secrets? Did Lorca decide they were a little too on the nose and scrap them? Or were they just a cool merchandising idea? “Context…” was directed by executive producer Akiva Goldsman, who’s directed the finale. Will he drop them in again?

Captain Killy survived

Probability: 15%

Okay, the Mirror Discovery was destroyed by the Klingons, but does Captain Killy really seem the type to go down with the ship? While we’ve only seen Prime Tilly’s interpretation of her, Captain Killy is already a fan favorite and it’d be a shame if we never saw the real thing. We’re sure she’ll show up eventually but, unless the Klingons are holding her prisoner on Qo’noS, it’s likely we’ll have to wait.

Culber appears

Probability 10%

We’ve been assured repeatedly that Culber’s death isn’t a simple “bury your gays” scenario, but so far, his posthumous appearances have been to guide Stamets through the mycelial network and to give him some closure. We don’t think we’ve seen the last of the doctor, but his spore ghost has already shown up a couple of times so maybe their next reunion is something for season two.

Ripper returns

Probability: 8%

Everyone’s favorite tardigrade was last seen disappearing into the mycelium network, having been freed by Burnham and Tilly. And much as we’d love a reappearance, its life on the Discovery was not a happy one, so we’re doubtful it’d be tempted to pop back for a visit. We like to think he’s out there traveling the universe, perhaps looking for Mrs. Ripper.

One of the bridge crew gets a line other than ‘aye captain.’

Probability: 5%

One drawback of Discovery not focusing on the bridge crew is that they rarely get to say anything that isn’t purely functional. There’s some potentially interesting characters there (I’d happily watch an Airiam spinoff show for starters), but after an entire season, we still barely know them. We saw the most of the bridge team in “What’s Past Is Prologue,” but we’d really like to see more, a bit more characterization for them would be nice but we’re not holding our breath for the finale. Hopefully season 2 will flesh them out.

Prime Lorca appears

Probability: 3%

Lorca’s death in “What’s Past Is Prologue” seemed like a definitive end to Jason Isaacs’ time on Trek, but could the captain make a surprise return? Admiral Cornwell speculated that Prime Lorca died in the Mirror Universe as “no Starfleet officer could survive that universe alone,” but that’s just an assumption. As for the mirror version we know and love? Well, who knows what the effects of falling into a giant ball of mycelium are? Both Isaacs and the producers have been coy about whether we’ll see Lorca again in some form so, as a great man once said, there are always possibilities.

They win the war with Lorca’s tribble

Probability: 1%

What if Lorca’s pet tribble is a Chekhov’s (not that one) Gun? A loaded weapon sat in plain sight, waiting to be used at the right moment? Think about it, they travel to Qo’noS, unleash a plague of tribbles, the Klingon ecosystem is destroyed and they have to quit fighting to rebuild? It’s backed up in the episode preview – Tyler’s carrying a large bag, obviously full of tribbles. They meet a Klingon in a seedy nightclub, obviously with foreknowledge of his plan to genetically engineer glommers, and a Klingon armada destroys a planet – which is the tribble homeworld, as later recounted by Worf. It explains why Klingons hate Tribbles and, er, the famine results in some kind of Klingon genetic mutation? Oh god, we’ve cracked it haven’t we?

Saru becomes lunch

Probability: 0%

No. Just, no.

Of course, all our predictions could be way off. What are yours? Let us know in the comments below.

Star Trek: Discovery season finale will be available on CBS All Access in the USA, and air in Canada on the Space Channel, this Sunday, February 11. It will available on Netflix outside the USA and Canada on Monday, February 12.

]]>165TrekMovie.com Staffhttp://http://trekmovie.com/?p=537152018-02-08T04:25:08Z2018-02-08T02:04:28ZOnce again there are a number of video interviews with Star Trek: Discovery cast and crew to catch up on from the last few days. Check out highlights and watch the latest below.

Is Tilly on the spectrum?

In a new TV Guide interview bit, actress Mary Wiseman talks about how some feel that her Cadet Tilly is on the autism spectrum. Wiseman says it isn’t something that they have discussed when developing her character, but she did say:

“The fact that people are getting that out of her is so moving and inspiring,” she added. “And the idea that this character that we all built together could make people feel seen or represented and show that they care so much is incredibly moving. I encourage people to put themselves in the show and see themselves in the show, and I’m gonna try my hardest to live up to that.”

Watch the segment below.

Martin-Green and Mary Chieffo on ‘Discovery’ as “feminist” show

Star Trek: Discovery stars Sonequa Martin-Green (Michael Burnham) and Mary Chieffo (L’Rell) were guests on the Nerdist webseries Fangirling, where they talked about playing powerful women in Star Trek. You can watch the full episode below.

And late last week the same pair participated in a Facebook Live chat where they took questions about life in the mirror universe and dropped hints (late in the show) about how the season will resolve their character arcs with “redemption” and “absolution.”

What happened during the nine months?

On After Trek there was a discussion about the nine months of the Klingon War that the USS Discovery missed after Stamets missed the timing on his jump back from the Mirror Universe. Director and executive producer Olatunde Osunsanmi talked about how bad things got to push the Federation so far. Watch that below.

Fun on the set

Also on Sunday’s After Trek had a fun package showing how the actor’s on set of Discovery pass the time in between takes, especially dancing. Check it out below.

Anthony Rapp on being an “actorvist”

Anthony Rapp was a guest on the CBS chat show The Talkwhere he talked about the importance to him about “living an open life” on Star Trek. Watch the segment below.

Social post of the day

The official CBS Star Trek Instagram account posted a nice behind the scenes image of the USS Discovery bridge from episode 114.

]]>82Shuttle Pod Crewhttp://www.trekmovie.comhttp://trekmovie.com/?p=536982018-02-07T20:22:00Z2018-02-07T20:22:00ZJared, Brian, and Kayla come together once again this week to discuss the penultimate episode in Star Trek: Discovery‘s first season, which kind of felt like a long setup for next week’s finale.

Subscribe to Shuttle Pod: The TrekMovie.com Podcast on iTunes, Google Play Music and Pocket Casts! Like what you hear? Please feel free to leave us a glowing review on iTunes.

At The Disco 13: “The War Without, The War Within”

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Or grab the direct link to the podcast here

None of your hosts were particularly enthralled with the latest installment of Discovery. Lots of loose ends were left hanging or cut awkwardly short in an episode that felt like filler leading up to next week’s big finish. Can the show wrap everything up next week?

The pseudo-resolution to the Tyler/Voq/Burnham storyline was welcome in principal (we haven’t heard from our dear friend Voqler in a couple of weeks now), but the soap-opera overtones of Tyler and Burnham’s heartfelt reconciliation left something to be desired. Discovery seems like it wants to struggle with the ethical issues surrounding Voqler (who, as Voq, killed a man) but instead seems to sweep them aside in favor of everyone just being glad to see their old pal Ash (who, again, killed a man as Voq) in an awkward mess hall scene led by Tilly. In this storyline, Stamets seems to be the only one acting rationally, and Anthony Rapp lays on a great bit of emotional acting in the confrontation between his character and the now de-Voqed Tyler.

It was great to see Admiral Cornwell back again. The scenes in the briefing room (so Star Trek!) and between Cornwell and L’Rell were particularly fun. But, just like the other threads of this episode, we’re left feeling like the characters in the story have lost their minds. A Vulcan and human admiral conspire with a treacherous genocidal maniac to win a war against the Klingons? And they do so by parading said maniac around as a fallen war hero, which was a mentor to many of the people now serving on the Discovery? The writers may have kept some of the pieces from us, but it’s hard to imagine a world in which this makes much sense or leads to a satisfying conclusion.

All-in-all, your Shuttle Pod crew was left confused and dismayed. But, of course, the show has one more chance to pull this all together. What could possibly await us this coming Sunday?

]]>18Matt Wrighthttps://trekmovie.comhttp://trekmovie.com/?p=536892018-02-06T15:22:07Z2018-02-06T04:42:14ZThe preview for the season finale, episode 15 “Will You Take My Hand?” was included at the end of the CBS All Access showing of Episode 14 Sunday night and should be released on Twitter by CBS and Netflix mid-week. In the mean time, let’s check out what we can expect from the finale.

It should go without saying, but, click away now if you want to stay totally free of possible spoilers.

The preview indicates there are two story lines shown. Burnham, Tyler, Tilly, and Emperor “Captain” Georgiou head off to an alien planet on a side mission while Saru takes the USS Discovery on the risky jump straight into the caves of Qo’noS that was setup in episode 14.

Ocean’s Four

This looks to be a side trip for something dire, this was hinted at when Emperor Georgiou had a secret conversation with Sarek in episode 14. Everyone is quite grim and Tilly has a case with her that might contain something nasty. We see the group go to what we assume to be is a non-aligned border world. The outpost is somewhat reminiscent of when Enterprise visited Rigel X in “Broken Bow.”

The grim group getting ready to go on their field-trip

Approach to the alien city at night

The group enters a club

The team explores the club

Dancers are alien and sensual

More strip club atmosphere…

Meeting a Klingon in the shadows

A gloved hand (likely Tilly based on the group shot), drops a glowing device down a bottomless hole.

]]>228Anthony Pascalehttps://trekmovie.comhttp://trekmovie.com/?p=536352018-02-07T20:14:40Z2018-02-05T19:30:41ZOn Tuesday Comedy Central’s Drunk History will turn it inebriated gaze on a bit of Star Trek history, telling the tale of Nichelle Nichols. The segment features comedian Ashley Nichole Black narrating a story about how Nichols was convinced to stay in her role as Uhura by Martin Luther King, TV’s first inter-racial kiss and Nichols work with NASA. You can watch the full segment and read our exclusive interview with creator and star Derek Waters.

UPDATE: Full Drink History Segment

﻿

Interview: Derek Waters on bringing Star Trek to Drunk History

What gave you the idea to turn your attention to the history of Star Trek and Nichelle Nichols?

The genesis of any story is hearing something that sounds familiar, but told in a brand new way. So, hearing what Nichelle Nichols had done and how Martin Luther King inspired her to stay and the importance of her is just a great moment in history, not just Star Trek, that more people need to know about. And on top of that there is the first inter-racial kiss and recruiting astronauts like Mae Jemison. It’s one of those stories like “yeah, but did you know this? and did you know that?” How did I not know all of that?

Did you have a chance to talk to Nichelle about the episode?

I never met her, but I did send it to her and she said that she loved it and couldn’t stop laughing, so that is the seal of approval.

How was the narrator and cast picked for this episode?

With narrators I talk to them about something that is going on that they would really want to talk about and what kinds of stories are important to them. I talked to Ashley Nichole Black about what she knew about Nichelle Nichols and she said she loved Nichelle Nichols. She knew all of this stuff and she had the strongest reaction to I assigned it to her. And I love Raven and thought this would be the perfect part for her and luckily she said yes. And I thought it would be really cool to have Jaleel White as Martin Luther King and somehow it all happened.

Raven Symoné as Nichelle Nichols and Derek Waters as William Shatner in Drunk History

What did you do to find your inner Shatner?

I don’t know. I normally wear that outfit so I was kind of being myself. I watched that episode over and over again. With these shows I never want to do an impression, it’s more about how I would have been in a scene.

You guys had to recreate part of the Star Trek set and get costumes together, was that a challenge?

You can’t use the trademark obviously, but we wanted to get as close to it as possible. That stuff is fun for me. It looks a bit off, but you can tell our hearts are in the right place. And that is what I want the show to be like. They are doing a history show, but it’s drunk, and their hearts are in the right place and they are trying their best to make it as authentic as possible.

Raven Symoné as Nichelle Nichols in Drunk History

Airs on Tuesday

Drunk History “Game Changers” airs on Comedy Central on Tuesday, February 6 at 10pm ET/PT. For more about the show or to watch full episodes and clips, visit cc.com.

“The revolution is successful. But survival depends on drastic measures. Your continued existence represents a threat to the well-being of society. Your lives mean slow death to the more valued members of the colony. Therefore, I have no alternative but to sentence you to death. Your execution is so ordered, signed Kodos, Governor of Tarsus IV.”

Those words, spoken by actor Anton Karidian (played by Arnold Moss) in the original Star Trek episode “The Conscience of the King” served as the tipping-point for Captain James T. Kirk’s identification of Karidian as Kodos, the Executioner. The episode is a stand-out example from Classic Trek’s amazing first season, featuring creative direction, a truly creepy villain, and the beginning of Trek’s fascination with the work of the Bard of Avon.

Those words also form the starting-point for Dayton Ward’s new Star Trek: Discovery novel, Drastic Measures. Set a decade before Discovery and twenty years before “The Conscience of the King,” Drastic Measures takes us down to Tarsus IV as the fungal plague ravages the colony’s food supply, and tells the story of Kodos’ horrifying decision, the aftermath of his murder of 4000 colonists, and the manhunt for one of Trek’s greatest monsters. As the cover photo implies, that story involves not just Kodos, but Commander Philippa Georgiou and Lieutenant Commander Gabriel Lorca (yes, the real Lorca from the Prime Universe), two of the key characters in the first season of Discovery.

The story of Tarsus IV and Kodos has been covered in a number of previous Star Trek novels, including the recent Autobiography of James T. Kirk, David A. Goodman, but Dayton Ward’s novel was written with the full cooperation and input of Star Trek: Discovery staff writer Kirsten Beyer, and the full knowledge of the Discovery writer’s room. This gives Ward’s book, and the preceding Discovery novel Desperate Hours by David Mack, a stronger connection to official Trek canon.

The resulting novel tells an exciting tale of a colony on the brink of death, of people recovering from unimaginable trauma and loss, of the difficulty of being a first responder to a horrific tragedy that is an ongoing situation, and of the attempt to bring a murderer to justice when all you want is revenge.

As the novel opens, Lt. Cdr. Lorca is a recent arrival at Starfleet’s outpost on Tarsus IV, but he has already begun to build connections with his teammates in the outpost and some members of the colony. As Governor Kodos declares martial law in an attempt to control the developing famine, Lorca’s lady love, a Tarsus colonist, is one of the 4000 people selected by Kodos for extermination.

Commander Georgiou is aboard a Starfleet transport vessel bound for Tarsus IV in response to the colony’s distress call. Her ship will arrive well ahead of the two-month estimate that Starfleet had given Tarsus IV. She is in charge of the hastily-assembled first response team of Starfleet engineers, scientists, security personnel, and medics that have been sent to render aid as quickly as possible. As the ship arrives at Tarsus IV, and the horrible deeds that had been done there just days before become evident, Georgiou finds herself also managing a manhunt, spearheaded by a grieving Lorca.

Of course, we know how the manhunt for Kodos has to end up. In order for “The Conscience of the King” to unfold as we know it must twenty years down the line, Kodos must escape, but be believed to have died in a fire. That pulls some of the suspense out of the manhunt story, though Ward manages to make the journey exciting anyway.

“Upholding a set of ideals can be difficult, and sometimes it’s damned cruel. Being able to do that, especially during times of adversity and crisis and even great personal tragedy, is the true test of anyone privileged to wear this.” Reaching up, [Georgiou] tapped her chest to indicate her Starfleet uniform. “we’re bound to uphold and defend those ideals, but the harder job is living up to them.”

The story features a number of twists and turns, and bravely gives us some insight into the mindset of Kodos the Executioner. It explores survivor’s guilt, the clash between humanistic ideals and the desire for revenge, and the trade-offs required of every leader in a crisis situation. It also serves to tie together many of the scattered details provided by “The Conscience of the King” about the Tarsus IV crisis, and the massacre.

One critique for the novel is that when it seems to end, it then ends again, and then again. And there is a mysterious and almost incomprehensible “post-credits” scene. It feels like, having “landed the plane” (so to speak), Ward had trouble letting us disembark. It comes off as a bit awkward, after a well-crafted story with a satisfying climax.

Canon connections

Drastic Measures features a Denobulan character as well as a Betazoid character, and I was pleased to learn a bit more about the history and ethics of the Betazoid people. The Benecia colony, the destination of the Karidian Company of Players in “The Conscience of the King” is mentioned. The book hints that the Bonestell Recreational Facility, where Jean-Luc Picard once left his heart (TNG: “Samaritan Snare”) may have been on Tarsus IV. There seems to be a nod to the Enterprise episode, “Horizon,” in a discussion about arming transport ships.

I was also pleased to see brief appearances by Captain Robert April and his wife Sarah, and Ward seems to take their characterization from their depiction in Diane Carey’s excellent novels Final Frontier and Best Destiny more than from the Animated Series episode, “The Counter-Clock Incident.” There’s a brief mention of zenite, and the planet it is mined from, Ardana (TOS: “The Cloud Minders”). There’s an oblique mention of Spock. And yes, a pivotal appearance by a teenaged Thomas Layton and James T. Kirk.

Memory Alpha tells us that the not-seen-on-screen bio of Ensign Hoshi Sato, prepared for the episode “In a Mirror Darkly, Part II” indicated that Hoshi and her family were among the 4000 people killed by Kodos on Tarsus IV. However, there is no indication of that in this book. Neither Kevin Riley nor his family are mentioned. Also, while “The Conscience of the King” does not mention Kodos’ first name, and The Autobiography of James T. Kirk gives it as Arnold, in Drastic Measures, his name is Adrian.

Bottom line

“Drastic Measures” is an exciting and worthwhile read, providing insight into the Prime Universe’s Gabriel Lorca and Philippa Georgiou. It is a compelling exploration of a community in crisis, and an exciting manhunt story. I highly recommend the book.

Available tomorrow

Star Trek Discovery: Drastic Measures by Dayton Ward will be released on Tuesday, February 6th. You can can order it at a discount at Amazon in Large format paperback and Kindle ebook.

]]>18Anthony Pascalehttps://trekmovie.comhttp://trekmovie.com/?p=535742018-02-05T18:31:54Z2018-02-05T02:57:05Z“The War Without, the War Within”

Star Trek: Discovery Season 1, Episode 14 – Debuted Sunday, February 4th
Written by Lisa Randolph
Directed by David Solomon

SPOILER-FREE REVIEW

The fourteenth episode of Star Trek: Discovery returns the crew to the prime universe and refocuses on the overall arc of the first season, the war with the Klingons. Unfortunately, this penultimate episode is also a return to the uneven nature of the season’s early episodes, feeling a bit disjointed along with head-scratching character decisions and plot points.

“The War Without, the War Within” has some standout performances, notably Shazad Latif, whose Tyler is still dealing with the fallout of his transformation. Also guest actress Jayne Brook delivers a nicely nuanced performance and drives much of the story as Admiral Cornwell deals with the void left by Captain Lorca following last week’s eventful episode.

While it has its moments, the episode is more of a set up for next week’s season finale. Writer Lisa Randolph takes on the ongoing idea of redemption and endeavors to analyze who our characters are, but leaves the episode without providing much progress. Episode 14 feels more like a series of memes, in search of a theme.

RECAP

[SPOILERS BELOW]

That escalated quickly

“The War Without, the War Within” picks up immediately after the events of last week’s exciting “What’s Past is Prologue,” which had the USS Discovery return to the prime universe, overshooting their jump and arriving nine months after they left, only to find the Federation losing the war against the Klingons.

The extended teaser dips into what will be the main elements for the episode, starting with Emperor Georgiou being brought on board by Michael Burnham. Acting Captain Saru was surprised to see who he thought was the late Captain Georgiou in the transporter room, but he soon learned her true nature and quickly got a hint at her gruesome cuisine choices. After calling him “slave,” she was dispatched to secure quarters to be dealt with later.

A Kelpien? Is it lunchtime already?

After chiding Burnham for lying to him about the state of Kelpiens in the Mirror Universe, all is forgiven by Saru, who appreciates her heroics in getting them home. She freely admits that she saved Georgiou for personal reasons related to her regret over her actions toward their former captain on the USS Shenzhou. It’s nice to see these two characters bonding again, and returning to the chemistry – ably shown by Martin-Green and Jones – they had in the pilot, before she Vulcan nerve pinched her way into mutiny and a prison sentence.

Saru brings up what will be another major thrust of this episode, returning to the Tyler story line left hanging in episode 12. Ash has been successfully de-Voqed, so it’s time to decide what to do with him. Burnham makes it clear that she is not ready to talk: finding out your boyfriend was a Klingon who then tried to kill you apparently isn’t easy to get over.

This leaves Saru to debrief Tyler, who explains more about how he was transformed, revealing he was the test case for the Klingon “species reassignment protocol.” Shazad Latif continues to impress as he tells the story (in gruesome detail) of his painful transformation and expresses his heartbreaking awareness of what he did when he was Voq. Saru trusts this new Tyler enough that he is not being held responsible for the death of Dr. Culber and is given his freedom, with limited privileges and some kind of monitoring bracelet.

These human bodies are so repulsive

The teaser wraps up with a bit of action as the USS Discovery is boarded by a Starfleet security team including Andorian and Tellarite officers, who are soon followed by Sarek and Admiral Cornwell, who overrides the ship’s command codes to tell the computer she is in charge. Clearly something drastic has happened in the nine months the Discovery has been gone to make people suspicious, which really shouldn’t have surprised Saru and the crew as much as it did. They knew the ISS Discovery took their place — who knows what it has been up to? Good thing Sarek can use a mind meld on Saru – apparently he doesn’t need permission – to get up to speed on what happened in episodes 10-13. Now all Admiral Cornwell wants to know about is where is her ex-boyfriend, Gabriel Lorca. Awkward.

I’m the captain now

Overly attached girlfriend

The action moves to the Discovery’s briefing room with our cast of characters sitting around the table, letting us know we’re in store for a classic Star Trek exposition scene. But just to keep us on our toes, Admiral Cornwell gavels the meeting to order by vaporizing a perfectly good bowl of Lorca’s family fortune cookies – she is not happy about the answer to her question about Lorca’s location, and this is her coping mechanism for believing that she’d been tricked by Mirror Lorca, while ‘her’ Lorca was killed after he was swapped onto the ISS Buran. But since this is Star Trek, who is to say she is right about his fate? It’s a good bet we haven’t seen the last of Jason Isaacs as one Lorca or another.

It turns out the gang in the Prime Universe never figured out the the USS Discovery was replaced by the ISS Discovery, led by Captain “Killy.” Conveniently, but inexplicably, the Klingons completely destroyed what they thought was the Federation’s secret weapon. As Sarek notes, “That Lorca was an imposter from an alternative universe was not the most obvious conclusion.” The decision is made to super-duper classify all information about the Mirror Universe in order to maintain morale in the Federation, conveniently also preserving canon so Kirk and crew can be surprised by the goateed Spock in “Mirror, Mirror” a decade later.

Turns out the Disco has an exposition room

More importantly, without the the cloaking tech data the Discovery crew picked up in episode 9, the Federation has been losing the war pretty badly. We hear about all sorts of different attacks that have taken place, with the “feudal savagery” of 24 Klingon houses competing over which one can come up with the most creative ways to attack and kill inside Federation territory.

This is all another unfortunate butterfly effect from episode 9 after the Discovery crew killed General Kol, leader of the Empire. All of what has happened sounds pretty interesting, which may make some viewers wish they got to see it instead of just hearing about it after a too-long trip to the Mirror Universe.

How many systems did you lose? Can’t you people do anything without us?

All your base are belong to us

The new plan is to fall back to Starbase 1 to regroup and brief what’s left of Federation leadership, but there is a wrinkle: the ship is out of spores to make the jump. They decide to head there at warp, even though Klingons are everywhere. We have some goals, some jeopardy, and are finally ready to move forward.

Later, when they show up at Starbase 1 – apparently it wasn’t so hard warping around with all those enemy ships about after all – they find the station occupied (and painted on) by the Klingons, with no sign of Federation life. This is another gut-punch for Admiral Cornwell, now in command of the Discovery, so much so that Saru has to step in to order the ship back to warp before the Klingons notch another starship Discovery on their belts.

Starbase 1, under new management with House D’Ghor, visit the new Raktajino Hut on level 7

With Plan A dead, Cornwell seeks out L’Rell, the Klingon who saved her life back in episode 8. The admiral has no time to listen to Klingon propaganda about how the Federation is out to get them, stating bluntly that “T’Kuvma was an ignorant fool.” Cornwell is desperate for answers on how to end the war, but L’Rell can see nothing short of conquering the Klingons as way to get their attention. These two women may struggle to see past their differences but they respect each other’s power and even though her time is brief, Mary Chieffo continues to impress as L’Rell.

Hi, L’Rell. Is that a new outfit?

Grumpy Emp

Acting as a sort of golden armor-wearing spider in the middle of the web of this episode is Emperor Phillipa Georgiou, who impresses both Sarek and Cornwell with her physical resemblance to the late Captain Georgiou. The similarities end there. The more sympathetic version of Georgiou from the end of episode 13 is gone, with the ruthless tyrant reasserting herself and demanding to be returned to her darker home universe. Michelle Yeoh continues to dominate as she plays out a series of scenes with various people popping in to have chats with the Emperor; it’s almost like she’s holding court, despite being in alien territory.

In a moment likely meant to evoke the pre-mutiny scene between Burnham and Sarek in the pilot, Michael seeks out the Emperor to find out how she defeated the Klingons. After some goading from Georgiou about her weakness for her dead captain, the Emperor drops some knowledge about how the Klingons are like cancer and the cure is to cut out the tumor that is Qo’noS. She really is not a nice person.

Who shall sit upon the iron couch?

Going after Qo’noS becomes Plan B for the episode, with an insane scheme involving the ship spore-jumping into an underground chamber for a gonzo recon mission as a prelude to an all out attack on the Klingon homeworld. Apparently no one has been there since the name-dropped Jonathan Archer in the 22nd century. Lucky for this crew they have someone from another universe who brought along her copy of the Travel Guide to the Klingon Empire to help out.

Things get even darker when the spidery Emperor lures Sarek into her quarters for some more monologuing about their shared Michael Burnhams. She lets him know that going to Qo’noS may score some points, but if they want to go to the bonus round to win the game, they have to completely destroy the Klingons, and of course she has a plan because the Federation are a bunch of hapless fools who can’t fight their way out of a paper bag without help from evil people from another universe. And of course like any good temptress, this devil is demanding a price: her freedom.

How much are Vulcan souls going for these days?

Distracted boyfriend

While all this plot is marching on, there is a good amount of soap opera-level drama related to the aftermath of Ash Tyler’s reintegration into the ship, following a “minor incident” involving killing Dr. Culber. To start things off, Ash has a run in with Lt. Stamets, who may not be ready to forgive, holding back his emotions but asking the former Klingon, “Does it gut you? Does it sicken you?”

On the other side of things you have Tilly, back to her regular hair and chipper ways and ready to hang with Tyler just like the old days. In a scene straight out of an afterschool special, she gets all the kids in the cafeteria to accept poor Tyler and have lunch with him. This group includes Detmer, in a stark contrast to the evil side eye she gave Michael Burnham when she first came on board following her mutiny.

The cool kids hang out with former Klingon killer

Tyler’s arc gets even weirder when Michael Burnham chats with Sarek about how she is not ready to deal with him. The usually ice-cold Vulcan somehow finds his inner Dr. Phil, offering sage relationship advice. He gets downright sentimental, telling her “Do not regret loving someone.” Someone, check this Vulcan’s eyes, because I don’t think he is in the right universe.

Tilly joins in later by telling Burnham that she has learned from life in the Terran Empire how to hold on to her ideals and to reject the darkness. She implores Burnham to seek out Tyler, who needs her, revealing he has been stripped of all rank and may end up becoming a study subject by some Starfleet scientists. According to Tilly, how they treat this ‘new’ Tyler is a test of who they are as people.

Eventually Burnham musters up the strength to see Tyler, but it doesn’t go well. She doesn’t accept his apology, he brings up how her parents died, she brings up how he tried to choke her to death. These two are not ready to hug it out. It appears that her Vulcan-trained logic is failing her, as her hatred of Voq blinds her to her love of Tyler.

Sonequa Martin-Green and Shazad Latif are able to deliver strong performances, digging into these emotional character moments. But given her apparent trust and faith in a clearly evil Emperor, Michael’s reaction seems a bit off. Maybe she can cut this poor mind-controlled guy some slack? Maybe that is something left for the finale, and maybe this episode spent too much time on this storyline, perhaps trying to make up for no time spent on it in episode 13.

How do you say goodbye in Klingon?

One does not simply spore into Qo’noS

Over the last few episodes, we have learned that the forest Stamets has grown onboard, which supplies the spores that fuel the ship’s spore drive, has died. Surprise! This isn’t quite as tragic as we were led to believe. In yet another one of the episode’s convenient reveals, Paul already has a back-up plan. He has the original bit of space fungus, so all they need to do is regrow it.

Oh right, I had this the whole time, why was I worried?

The action for this subplot revolved around finding a lifeless moon and doing a “mini Genesis device magic” thanks to a bank of conveniently available launchers that implant and stimulate the extremely rapid growth of a new mycelial forest. After an impressive effects sequence involving terms like “rhizomes” and “EM darts” they are back in the spore-driving business.

One mycelial forest coming right up

Deal with it

The episode ends with – you guessed it! – another twist. Sarek calls in on behalf of the Federation Council to let Cornwell know they are so desperate that they are willing to move forward based on whatever it was Sarek and Georgiou talked about off camera, leading Cornwell to make a shipwide announcement.

Cornwell’s big (fake) reveal is that Captain Georgiou is alive and well and being given command of the USS Discovery for its daring mission to map Qo’noS. The cover story is that she was never dead, but was captured by and then rescued from the Klingons. It is clear that Saru and Burnham – who watch agape as the Emperor posing as “Captain Georgiou” strides onto the bridge after waiting outside for maximum dramatic impact- were not aware this was coming. The twist is so twisty that all the other characters are kept in the dark to maximize the reaction.

Burnham accepts her orders from Georgiou with a subtly indignant “Yes, Captain,” and we fade to black, probably feeling just like her. WTF?

Fake captain!

ANALYSIS

Facepalm

This episode was a bit frustrating. It starts by bringing us up to speed on a war that was supposed to be the central backdrop of the show, but apparently we continue to miss all the cool parts. And even with all the exposition, it’s still not entirely clear what’s going on. On one hand we are told that (before it was taken) Starbase 1 was the “only remaining sanctuary,” but we are also told only 20% of Federation space has been occupied — but then whenever they show the maps it looks much worse than that.

Beyond nitpicking, it is hard to imagine the Federation was in such a desperate position and yet this was never again mentioned in Star Trek canon. A lot of leeway can be given to this show, especially with visual canon. Some things can be explained, like how they made the trip to the Mirror Universe a super-secret, but the Klingons killing masses of people and taking over large chunks of Federation space seems like it should be a big deal. Worf or Kor or someone probably would have mentioned it.

And there is something more fundamentally wrong here that the show seems to be saying, which is that the Federation needs to outsource leadership in war. Sarek explicitly states that “Starfleet tactics have failed us.” Things really started going bad when Lorca (revealed to be from the Terran Empire) took the Discovery back to his home universe, and now things can only be turned around by handing that same ship to the Mirror Universe Emperor?

Yes, Star Trek has always presented the Federation and Starfleet as peaceful organizations, but they have always been able to muster the strength and ingenuity to defend themselves. It was recently revealed that Bryan Fuller’s original idea for Lorca was that he was a brilliant tactician from our universe, but the replacement showrunners’ struck on the idea of Lorca being from the Mirror Universe because it would answer the question about why he was so successful in war.

Starfleet doesn’t need to bring in ringers for its war leadership. A cursory glance at the records of Kirk, Picard, Sisko, Janeway and Archer (and many others in Starfleet history) shows that these people knew their way around a phaser bank: just ask the Klingons, Romulans, Suliban, Cardassians, Ferengi, Dominion, and Borg of their eras.

Hopefully this is all leading somewhere, but for now they seem to fragmenting canon and twisting Star Trek in order to make some point, which we will apparently learn in the finale.

Can this ship function without an evil captain?

Cool story, bro

“The War Without, the War Within” seems to be a step back in quality for the show and a return to the more uneven episodes of the beginning of the season. After spending so much time building these characters, many seem to be acting out of character. Combined with that are a number of confusing plot contrivances and conveniences that seem to exist only to deliver unnecessarily dramatic moments.

Episode 14 had some strong performances, cool special effects, a nice Enterprise namedrop, and it was great to see a good old-fashioned conference room briefing, which is so very Star Trek. But all of that wasn’t enough. In a way, this feels more like a coda for episode 13 and a prolonged set-up for episode 15. In the end, maybe the extension from 13 episodes to 15 didn’t serve the series as a whole and it could have been tighter and more focused by sticking to the original plan for thirteen.

With all that said, anticipation for upcoming finale remains high. The show overall has delivered enough on character, thrill and Star Trek lore to maintain a high level of excitement and mystery as to how this will all turn out.

Hey guys, there’s only one episode – sorry – one mission left

Random thoughts, connections, easter eggs

The Mo’Kai “species reassignment protocol” is likely the process later used for the Klingon spy Arne Darvin.

Dr. Pollard (Raven Duada) is another medical doctor but not the Chief Medical Officer, who apparently is so busy doing Andorian tonsillectomies that he or she hasn’t been seen by anyone or even mentioned since episode 5.

Speaking of department heads, where were the heads of engineering, science, tactical, etc during the briefing with the Admiral? People like Burnham and Stamets may have important information, but doesn’t this ship have any sort of chain of command?

Opening teaser was quite long, last week had no teaser at all. The show seems to be embracing its streaming nature by experimenting episode-by-episode with the structure.

The Emperor’s quarters may not be ISS Charon opulent, but were still large and lavish for Starfleet standards.

Something about Sarek’s farewell to Michael felt final, as if he was headed somewhere very dangerous.

The location of Starbase 1 was said to be 100 AUs from Earth, or right outside the Kuiper Belt, so why was it orbiting a blue planet? Is it Planet X?

What does this show have against showing other ships? Most often, like when the Admiral’s ship approached and boarded the Discovery and when Sarek departed, we never see the other ships. Is this a creative choice or cost-saving?

What are they going to do with that transporter tech who knows the truth about Georgiou. With her in charge, I would stay away from any airlocks if I were him.

Don’t expect to see this guy again

CLIPS

Star Trek: Discovery is available on CBS All Access on in the US and airs in Canada on the Space Channel. It is available on Netflix outside the USA and Canada.

]]>362TrekMovie.com Staffhttp://http://trekmovie.com/?p=536062018-02-04T22:03:14Z2018-02-04T19:06:11ZStar Trek: Discovery debuts its 14th episode tonight, the crew must regroup after the jump back from the Mirror Universe.

Preview: “The War Without, the War Within”

Star Trek: Discovery – Season 1, Episode 14

Back on the U.S.S. Discovery, Burnham and the crew are faced with the harsh reality of the war during their absence. In order to move forward, Starfleet must use unconventional tactics and sources to take their next action against the Klingons.

The episode will be available in the US on CBS All Access at 8:30 pm ET (5:30 PT). In Canada it airs on the Space Channel at 8:00 pm ET (5:00 pm PT). And it will be available on Netflix outside the USA and Canada on Monday at 8 am BST.

Netflix promo trailer (for those outside USA/Canada)

Episode clip from KTLA

Photos

Social media buzz

Y’all, there are many reasons I think Ep 14 is tremendously powerful, emotional, and thought-provoking, but I gotta say, having @ActressJayneB back and badass as ever is right at the top of that list. And when it comes to humans, I think L’Rell would have to agree. #CornRellpic.twitter.com/jtcEesAsY7

After Trek also airs on Space in Canada at midnight ET and will be available on Netflix on Monday.

What say you?

TrekMovie will be posting a full review of “The War Without, the War Within” later. But you don’t have to wait to offer your views in the comments below.

]]>23Matt Wrighthttps://trekmovie.comhttp://trekmovie.com/?p=535962018-02-03T18:51:52Z2018-02-03T17:37:25ZThe UK’s Daily Mail caught up with the original Captain Kirk, where he chatted about the prospect of returning to do a Star Trek movie, possibly the one currently in development with producer J.J. Abrams, pitched by Quentin Tarantino. William Shatner made it clear he doesn’t know if the team is considering his involvement, but he suggested technology may be the way to make it happen:

J.J. has never indicated bringing Captain Kirk back and I don’t know how you would do that fifty years later. How do you rationalize my present appearance with what I was like fifty years ago? On the other hand, I have recently connected with a virtual reality company – Ziva – and they virtual realized me [with] 240 cameras all around shooting me. So, they now can produce my body and my face in any way, shape or form, including what I was like 50 years ago.

When asked if he would be interested in returning to the role of Kirk, Shatner made it clear he is ready.

Oh, lord yes. What an interesting role that was, and what it could be 50 years later. Captain Kirk is caught somewhere in the byways of the universe.

Tarantino is a great director and I would love to work with him. [To appear] would be a wonderful thing. The fans have been so supportive.

This isn’t the first time Shatner has held his hand up to let the powers that be know he is interested; just a few weeks ago he noted he would “absolutely” return to the franchise for Tarantino’s Trek.

Virtual Kirk?

Using computer technology to de-age actors has been used a number of times in feature films in recent years, even going back to 2006 when Patrick Stewart was made younger in X-Men: The Last Stand. More recently we have also seen characters based on younger actors that were entirely computer generated, such as Princess Leia and Grand Moff Tarkin in 2016’s Rogue One.

Computers were used for Patrick Stewart (X-Men: The Last Stand) and Peter Cushing (Rogue One)

This idea of tech being the solution to bring Shatner’s Kirk back to Star Trek is something the actor has been talking about more and more recently. In August 2017 at Star Trek Las Vegas, Shatner made a comment about virtual reality, and we followed up with him in a November TrekMovie interview, in which Shatner first mentioned he was working with Ziva Dynamics, which is a Vancouver, Canada-based company that specializes in rendering realistic humans and animals for VR, animation for film, and more.

A spokesperson for Ziva confirmed that the company is working with Shatner, telling TrekMovie:

The concept of virtual humans is central to our business. We have had some very positive discussions with Mr. Shatner and a number of other potential partners in this field, but currently do not have anything specific to announce.

The process of scanning and building a character model for VR is shown in this video from Ziva:

There is still no indication that Abrams or Tarantino are considering using Shatner’s Kirk (of any era) for the film currently in development. But based on his recent statements, William Shatner wants it to be clear that he is ready to play at any age they need.

]]>158TrekMovie.com Staffhttp://http://trekmovie.com/?p=535932018-02-02T23:19:45Z2018-02-02T20:00:25ZThis morning Star Trek: Discovery star Sonequa Martin-Green was a guest on Los Angeles’ KTLA Morning News to promote the show and the segment included a new clip from episode 14 – “The War Without, the War Within” – airing this Sunday. The clip features a conversation on the USS Discovery between Michael Burnham and Emperor Georgiou, who was brought from the Mirror Universe to the Prime Universe. Watch the segment and clip below.

Episode 14 Preview

Today CBS also released the episode preview on Twitter, watch that below.

Episode 14 of Star Trek: Discovery will be available on CBS All Access on Sunday, February 4th by 8:30 pm ET. It will air in Canada on the Space Channel at 8:00 pm ET the same day and be available on Netflix outside the USA and Canada on Monday, February 5th at 8 am GMT.

]]>38TrekMovie.com Staffhttp://http://trekmovie.com/?p=535872018-02-02T18:05:46Z2018-02-02T17:54:02ZThis week’s collection of Great Links about Star Trek across the web leads with the rise of the machines. The first relates to a new trend for a group of Redditors who have started using an app based on deep learning technology in a very important way, by adding Nicholas Cage to every movie they can think of. Cage has been swapped into Superman, Indiana Jones, Jame Bond, and many other films, and now into Star Trek: Insurrection, swapping in for Captain Picard. Watch the video from DerpFakes below.

AI writes TNG script: On his birthday, Picard disgraces Worf

Our slow march towards inevitable takeover by the AI was also demonstrated this week by the people at Botnik, who use machine learning to create content. Yesterday they “used predictive keyboards trained on Star Trek: The Next Generation to write this bold new episode.” Check out the graphic below to see how it starts.

More Great Links: How Trek impacts fandom and finance

It’s not just AIs doing deep thinking about Star Trek this week, some real live human beings have been pondering the importance of the franchise and its effect on the world. Here are the highlights from across the web.

That’s it for this week’s update. Keep up with all the fun Star Trek from around the web in our Great Links category.

]]>17TrekMovie.com Staffhttp://http://trekmovie.com/?p=535792018-02-02T19:10:47Z2018-02-02T01:31:16ZToday’s Star Trek: Discovery news roundup is packed with stuff to check out, starting with some hints about the rest of the season. We also have Shazad Latif talking more about going from Voq to Tyler, an analysis of the title sequence, James Frain’s Sarek research, and more.

Showrunners drop hints for final two episodes

Now back in the Prime universe, the final two episodes of the season will be a race against the clock to prevent Starfleet from being annihilated. “As the crew of Discovery deals with the fallout of Mirror Universe Lorca, they must end the war with the Klingons once and for all,” showrunners Gretchen J. Berg and Aaron Halberts tease. “Burnham is going to have to strike unexpected alliances in a mission that requires the Discovery team to take the fight directly to the Klingons. Will there be redemption for Burnham’s mutiny against Georgiou or Tyler’s attacks on Culber and Burnham? As the first season wraps up, the stakes have never been higher for the U.S.S. Discovery and we’re excited to answer many of the questions that have been asked since the first episode, as well as tease what’s to come.”

Latif talks sexual assault story line and mechanics of Voq transformation

In a new interview with Vulture, actor Shazad Latif discussed the sexual assault story line with Tyler and how it changes following the reveal

To go back a little bit to the sexual-assault story line. The audience now knows that Tyler is really Voq in a heavily surgically transformed body, although it seems like with the surgery scene that happened with L’Rell in episode 13, maybe we can assume that Voq may not really exist anymore and the Tyler personality will dominate? But knowing that this was a personality grafted in Voq and not necessarily fully real, how do you feel that affects the sexual-assault story line?
It’s interesting because in reality Voq was just having sex. And they’re in love, and that’s what’s technically happening, but obviously in Tyler’s mind, because he is in my head, he was a real guy and his memories are real and he’s still a real person, he’s just coming through in someone else’s core being. In his mind, it’s sexual assault. So, to play it both is very weird and interesting because you don’t normally get to do that. But to explore adds another layer for an actor and for the story line. Especially in times like now, with what’s going on, it’s a very, very interesting thing to explore.

Latif also sat down with The Hollywood Reporter and gave an in depth interview talking about playing both Voq and Tyler on Star Trek: Discovery. Watch that below:

How the ‘Discovery’ titles came to life

If you want to learn everything there is to know about the creation of the title sequence for Discovery, check out the “Star Trek: Discovery” profile at Art of the Title, which includes discussions with the team that put the titles together, including designer Ana Criado and writer Kurt Mattila, who had this to say about the origins for the sequence:

While the show’s staff were initially uncertain about the direction Discovery’s opening should take, according to Criado that first meeting established the parameters for what they didn’t want the sequence to be. “They wanted it to look kind of vintage and distinct from previous title sequences,” she said. Mattila recalled the specific mandate set forth by the showrunners: “We don’t want where we were, we want to go past it… Boldly go where no Star Trek has gone before!”

“Our concept was to show how the starship Discovery and its crew came to be a part of this new adventure,” said Criado. “To do so, we decided to take things back to the drawing board, literally.”

]]>64Dénes Househttp://www.trekmovie.comhttp://trekmovie.com/?p=535782018-02-02T01:07:11Z2018-02-02T01:07:11ZStar Trek: Deep Space Nine: Gamma – Original Sin
Written by David R. George III

“Sisko pondered the nature of the Glant’s idea of humanity’s lack of uniqueness. Two arms, two legs, a head, a torso – did all those basic commonalities make all human beings like all other human beings? This felt wrong to Sisko, flying in the face of individuality, but at the same time, it had been humanity’s collective acceptance of itself as a single race that had allowed it to evolve as a society, to rid itself of its internal fears and prejudices.”

David R. George III’s new novel is an odd duck of a book. It welds together two stories in parallel – one a fascinating and gripping sci-fi yarn bursting with intriguing and unusual concepts, that is filled with real terror, real suspense, and real interest, and the other what seems to be a by-the-numbers procedural that by its nature eliminates all interest and suspense from the start. Admittedly, eventually this second storyline turns out to have a kicker of an ending.

Original Sin picks up its story with Captain Benjamin Sisko – a decade following the events of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine – embarked on a long-term voyage of exploration in the Gamma Quadrant, in command of the Galaxy-Class starship, the U.S.S. Robinson. Also along for this journey are his wife, Kassidy, and his nine-year-old daughter, Rebecca. The ship is suddenly attacked by a fleet of tiny alien vessels, no two of them the same, which trap the Robinson on a “sandbar” of normal space, surrounded by a “moat” of null space, in which the normal fabric of space and time does not exist. And these aliens make off with 87 of the Robinson’s crew – all children, including Rebecca Sisko. Can the Robinson escape the null-space bubble around them, locate the children, and rescue them from a fate worse than death? What is the nature of these aliens, whose ships and bodies are each completely unique, and whose language is all but untranslatable? Can they find a way to communicate? To understand each other? This storyline is fascinating, and the ideas in it are fresh, unique, and exciting. I enjoyed every minute of this part of the book.

But every other chapter flashes back to six years prior, after Sisko came back from his time with the wormhole aliens, but before he returned to Starfleet. This second storyline follows the tale of Rebecca Sisko being kidnapped by an extremist member of a Bajoran sect, with a cat-and-mouse game between the kidnapper and the investigative teams. Can the authorities find and rescue Rebecca before harm comes to her? Well, yes. We are told early in the Gamma Quadrant storyline that Rebecca had been rescued from her previous kidnapping suffering no ill effects, either physically or emotionally, robbing this second story of any interest or suspense whatsoever.

Even the motivation behind the kidnapping remains a mystery as we only learn that it was because of his unique interpretations of Bajoran prophecies, but are told nothing of what those interpretations are. In the end, the kidnapper just comes across as a sad, mentally-ill crank. And the lead investigator, introduced about halfway through the novel, is described in such terms of perfection and competence that we never once question whether she will succeed in her task. She takes no wrong turns, she has no personality quirks or flaws. She is the best at what she does, and does it flawlessly. And so, reading about her is flat and dull.

Both storylines come to a head as the Robinson and the Bajoran investigator close in on their respective quarries, and mount their rescues. The Gamma Quadrant rescue features a ton of action, tense negotiations, phasers and transporters and runabouts and close escapes. The Bajoran rescue features detailed studying of flight logs of travel pods. But in the end, the climactic scenes in both time periods take place, and there is a stunning reveal in each case. And the book wraps up on an intriguing and mysterious note.

About 1/3 of “Original Sin” is flat and suspenseless, while the rest is fascinating and gripping. I guess I’d say it’s worth toughing it out through the Bajor chapters in order to finish the Gamma Quadrant chapters, and the climax of each tale is worth waiting for. But it will take some stamina to accomplish it.

Deep Space Nine is my favorite Star Trek show, and Benjamin Sisko is my favorite Starfleet Captain. George finds Sisko’s voice, and it was fun reading his stuff. No other DS9 character appears in this novel, nor does the station itself. This is simply a Ben Sisko adventure. I guess the other DS9 characters appear in other novels, but I haven’t read them. I wasn’t lost during this novel, despite not having read the other books in the series, but I did miss Kira, Odo, Quark, and the rest.

Original Sin suffers from its structure. I’m not sure how it could have been fixed. There’s enough worthwhile stuff in here for me to recommend it, but not without the reservations expressed above.

Available now

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine – Gamma: Original Sin by David R. George III was released on September 26. You can pick it up at Amazon in paperback and Kindle ebook.

]]>1TrekMovie.com Staffhttp://http://trekmovie.com/?p=535632018-02-06T00:24:37Z2018-01-31T22:09:12ZCBS has just released eight new images from this weekend’s episode of Star Trek: Discovery. Episode 14 is titled “The War Without, the War Within.” The penultimate episode of the first season features the returns of Jayne Brook as Admiral Cornwell, James Frain as Sarek and Michelle Yeoh as (Mirror) Phillipa Georgiou.

Episode Description

Back on the U.S.S. Discovery, Burnham and the crew are faced with the harsh reality of the war during their absence. In order to move forward, Starfleet must use unconventional tactics and sources to take their next action against the Klingons.

Episode 14 of Star Trek: Discovery will be available on CBS All Access on Sunday, February 4th by 8:30 pm ET. It will air in Canada on the Space Channel at 8:00 pm ET the same day, and be available on Netflix outside the USA and Canada on Monday, February 5th at 8 am GMT.

]]>81Shuttle Pod Crewhttp://www.trekmovie.comhttp://trekmovie.com/?p=535602018-02-05T00:18:22Z2018-01-31T20:54:15ZBrian, Jared, and Matt discuss the fourth and final episode in the Mirror Universe arc.

The Shuttle Pod crew thought it was a beautifully directed, briskly paced installment that featured strong performances from the cast. We dive into that, as well as some things we weren’t too thrilled with.

Subscribe to Shuttle Pod: The TrekMovie.com Podcast on iTunes, Google Play Music and Pocket Casts! Like what you hear? Please feel free to leave us a glowing review on iTunes.

We also discuss what bringing Mirror Georgiou back to our universe could mean for the Klingon War arc, and speculate about how the season is going to tie up all the many threads with just two episodes left.

The Emperor arrives on the Discovery, what now?

Transport over during an ion storm, and join us as we discuss the latest episode of Star Trek: Discovery

]]>22TrekMovie.com Staffhttp://http://trekmovie.com/?p=535442018-01-30T22:33:32Z2018-01-30T22:32:26ZLast Sunday’s episode was exciting and action filled, closing the 4-part story arc in the Mirror Universe. The Mirror Universe is always a fan favorite, and it’s a favorite of those working on the show too, the writer and director of “What’s Past Is Prologue” have shared a number of behind-the-scenes photos, check out some of the best below.

Jason Isaacs on Lorca’s story arc coming to a close

CBS has released a new video with Jason Isaacs discussing the dynamics between Lorca, Burnham, and Georgiou, and that final fight scene.

Behind the scenes photos

Showing lots of behind-the-scenes love for the mirror universe, the episode’s writer and co-executive producer Ted Sullivan (@karterhol) has been sharing photos from the set. Photos and captions are from Ted’s Twitter.

With just two episodes left in Season 1, Star Trek: Discovery is available on CBS All Access on in the US and airs in Canada on the Space Channel, it is also available on the CraveTV streaming service. It is available on Netflix outside the USA and Canada.

]]>18TrekMovie.com Staffhttp://http://trekmovie.com/?p=535372018-01-30T19:59:28Z2018-01-30T19:59:28ZOnce again Star Trek’s Zachary Quinto is following in the footsteps of the late Leonard Nimoy. Today the History Channel announced they have greenlit a revival of the paranormal investigation series In Search Of, to be hosted and executive produced by Quinto. The show is inspired by the original In Search Of series which ran in the 70s and 80s, hosted by Star Trek legend Leonard Nimoy.

Zachary Quinto in In Search Of

The 10-episode unscripted series will follow Quinto as he investigates a different subject and “searches for the truth to some of the world’s greatest mysteries.” Episode subjects will include alien encounters, mysterious creatures, UFO sightings, time travel and artificial intelligence. In Search Of “will explore enigmas told through the eyes of witnesses and scholars with a personal connection to the phenomenon.” Each episode will include immersive demonstrations and experiments that contextualize the episode’s theme.

In a statement, Quinto said:

“I am so excited to be reimagining ‘In Search Of’ and exploring new questions and phenomena with all of the advancements in science and technology from which we have benefitted in the past forty years since the original series first aired. In the spirit of my late dear friend Leonard Nimoy, we intend to honor and perpetuate his endless curiosity about the world – and universe – in which we live.”

In Search Of joins History’s programming slate that includes the popular Ancient Aliens, and the upcoming scripted series Blue Book, which will chronicle the true top secret United States Air Force-sponsored investigations into UFO-related phenomena in the 1950s and ‘60s.

No release date was given for the new In Search Of.

Zachary Quinto

In Search Of with Leonard Nimoy

The original In Search Of series aired from 1977-1982 following three specials in 1973 and 1975 that were hosted by Twilight Zone’s Rod Serling. Following Serling’s death, Nimoy was selected to host the regular series which ran for six seasons comprised of 144 episodes. The show was revived for a single season in 2002, hosted by X-Files star Mitch Pileggi.

You can watch an entire episode from season one – about Martians – below.

TrekMovie will provide updates on this series as more information becomes available.

]]>33TrekMovie.com Staffhttp://http://trekmovie.com/?p=535292018-01-30T03:54:16Z2018-01-30T03:54:16ZJason Isaacs and the showrunners for Star Trek: Discovery have been talking to the press and answering questions about last night’s episode on After Trek. Some key insights and hints to what is to come have been revealed. TrekMovie has broken down the highlights.

Mirror Lorca is really dead

Jason Isaacs made it clear in a number of interviews on After Trek that Lorca indeed met his end in last night’s episode, such as this comment in Entertainment Weekly.

I would say, yeah [there was a finality to his story], the prognosis is not good for him given he was dissolved into a million pieces on camera. There are not many homeopathic cures that can help that.

Jason Isaacs played as Mirror Lorca from day one

In a number of interviews, actor Jason Isaacs made it clear that he was clued in from the beginning and Lorca being from the Mirror Universe informed his performance throughout the season. On After Trek he said:

Of course I knew [Lorca was from the Mirror Universe]. I couldn’t have done the job….the clues were there from the very first day, from every encounter. Anything of what looked like what Prime Lorca was doing, that Lorca was doing, [Mirror Lorca] was doing to get back to that universe. To secure Michael Burnham, to get the loyalty of the crew and to serve my nefarious ends.

I had to plant little seeds and secrets. I had to be able to give clues here and there, and more importantly, I had to play him honestly like a guy from the Mirror Universe who was lying and hiding. So if I hadn’t known, I wouldn’t have been able to play it….even when I’m doing things that seem noble or heroic, they’re always only to engender more loyalty in Michael Burnham, or to make sure that I keep the ship so that I can work on the spore drive and get home again.

Isaacs was playing it as Mirror Lorca all the way

The rest of the cast didn’t know

I assumed that they did [know Lorca was from the Mirror Universe], but in fact, they didn’t. And I rather blew it for some people many months in, when I mentioned it. There was a horrified shock on some of their faces, and I realized I should’ve shut up. Sonequa knew. I think Michelle knew. But a lot of other people didn’t know, and I wish I hadn’t told them, because it would’ve come as more of a surprise.

The cast didn’t know Lorca was Mirror Lorca

Lorca wasn’t originally going to be Mirror

As discussed in Saturday’s article from comments from co-executive producer Ted Sullivan, the notion of going into the Mirror Universe was something co-creator Bryan Fuller planned from the beginning, and he even wanted to do it earlier in the season. But, apparently this plan did not involve Lorca being revealed to be from the MU, as explained by co-showrunner Aaron Harberts in this excerpt from Buzzfeed :

Harberts explained that the writers knew from the start, when creator Bryan Fuller was first planning out the show’s serialized storyline, that the inaugural season of Discovery would end up in the Mirror Universe. (Fuller eventually left the show due to creative differences with CBS, elevating Harberts and Gretchen J. Berg to showrunner status.) But at first, the writers planned for Lorca to be a hawkish captain given a chance to shine thanks to the Federation’s war with the Klingon Empire. It was only after the writers began discussing why Lorca would be so skilled with warfare that they hit upon the idea that he’d secretly be from the militaristic world of the Mirror Universe.

Plan A for Lorca wasn’t Mirror

Mirror Lorca destroyed the USS Buran

Isaacs discussed in various interviews how he and showrunners created a “blueprint” for Lorca’s story, and speaking to EW he reveals a detail that never made it into the show:

There was a Prime Locra, he was captain of the Buran in the Prime world. He swapped with him and found himself captain of the Buran. This never came out, this backstory detail we never put in the dialogue: Although Lorca spins this story having had to sacrifice the men on Buran and had to blow them up to save them from Klingon torture. Actually, if I remember correctly, there was some kind of DNA identification that would have exposed Lorca as not being Prime Lorca, and so he blew up the ship and killed everyone on it.

Lorca’s story about the USS Buran was just another lie

Lorca Prime’s status and Isaacs return are TBA

While Isaacs was definitive on Mirror Lorca, he got much more vague when talking about Lorca Prime. Here is what he said to IGN:

“We don’t know anything about the fate of Prime Lorca,” he said. “Is he as interesting as Mirror Lorca? What is his taste in fashion? Does he wear leather coats, does he wear puffy-sleeve shirts, does he have a goatee, does he blow-dry his hair? Who knows? We know nothing. … Or is he that different? Frankly, I mean, how different are any of us from the Mirror version of ourselves? They say we’re all five meals away from being savages. … This particular administration in America has brought some of the ugliest parts of human nature out from in the shadows. And who knows what other exposures the Mirror world might have done. Who knows where he is.”

Could the actor return as Prime Lorca? Here he got even more vague with EW:

Do you know [what happened to Prime Lorca]?
If I did, you’d have to stand behind my wife, friends, and professional collaborators to find out the answer. I’ve kept this one big secret for six months — I am certainly going to keep any others.

Well, are you signed on for season 2?
I’m sorry, is that not a related question?

Lorca Prime swapped with Lorca as he beamed up to the ISS Buran, last seen in battle with the ISS Charon

The Emperor may be redeemable

One of the surprise moments from last night’s episode was Michael Burnham saving Emperor Georgiou, who traveled with the USS Discovery back to the Prime Universe. Actress Michelle Yeoh appeared on After Trek briefly to ask a planted question to Sullivan about if people from the Mirror Universe being inherently evil or “can they be rehabilitated?” Sullivan’s reply may hint at Georgiou’s future on the show:

One of the things I love about Star Trek is that it doesn’t believe in destiny, it believes in the individual person…I don’t think it is a mistake that Burnham grabs Georgiou and brings her back, because what I think will be interesting is how someone from the Mirror Universe reacts to a universe of hope where people can be the best versions of themselves. I think it will be a hard journey, but I think that everyone is redeemable. I think what’s interesting about Georgiou versus Lorca is that she listened to Burnham. Everything was on Lorca’s term. What’s interesting about Georgiou is she says “What’s your plan.” That’s a chance for her to say “I’m willing to listen, I’m willing to evolve.” And that is what the journey is going to be.

The Emperor arrives in the Prime Universe

That last spore will be addressed in season 2

A fan on After Trek asked Ted about the one last green spore that landed on Cadet Tilly. Ted wouldn’t say, but hinted it is something important.

What is up with that, right? That was something we came – Mary Wiseman came up to me on set and said “What’s up with that spore?” I was like “Wait until season 2.”

One last spore

Lorca’s speech was making a statement about the world today, and Isaacs helped write it

On After Trek actor Jason Isaacs and Ted Sullivan talked about the goal of making a statement with Lorca’s speech in episode 13.

What [Ted] did, which I thought was so brilliant, is make [the Mirror Universe] not that far from us. So, it is a world where people are slightly more Darwinian. That whole “Make the Empire glorious again” and not all races are equal. We worked hard on that speech that Lorca gives to make it not that far from the way many people around us think. If you get out of bed on the wrong side or you are feeling a bit selfish, we can all be the Mirror versions of ourselves. It might be a bit more dog-eat-dog and a bit more violent, but there are a lot of people that think this last couple of hundred years as been a blip in civilization and none of us are dealing with human nature in a sense or in a practical way and we will return to that.

Ted added:

Jason and I spent a lot of time talking about those kinds of speeches. And in the writers room we talked about how to make the Mirror not silly and how do we make Mirror about what is going on right now. Star Trek is supposed to reflect what is going on in the world and we are dealing with a Mirror Universe now, and not just in America but in England and in Europe, and throughout the whole world. I think it feels like a Mirror Universe a lot of the time and so you want to lean into that. One of the things that Jason was so good about on set was to really push us, and push me…We got into [his] trailer and sat down with a computer and worked on that speech a lot. One of the reasons we did that is we felt we had a unique opportunity to talk about what is going on in the world right now. That is what Star Trek is supposed to do.

A lot of people said, when they heard we were going to Mirror, said they didn’t understand why we were going to Mirror in season one. Well, because that is what is going on in the world right now. I think there was an opportunity to address those things. I am very proud that Discovery has been able to take those things, where it is Harry Mudd or the Mirror Universe, and said “How do we do a twist on that and how do we make it work. How do we make something that could potentially be silly, or was silly or fun but silly, and how do we make it cool and interesting.

Also on After Trek, Sullivan talked about Saru’s speech to the crew of the USS Discovery, explaining the importance of it in the arc of the show:

It was special. For me, as a life-long Star Trek fan, it was an opportunity to lean into the ideology of Starfleet, the ideology of what I love so much about Star Trek. And to finally after thirteen episodes give the fans the moment that says “We get it. We believe in Star Trek and Starfleet too. We just had to go through this journey of twelve episodes.

The other thing that that scene does is, I put Rhys and Detmer and Airiam and Owosekun in that scene because I wanted to show the team coming together…with everyone becoming part of the solution. So, a lot of people have been complaining: “We don’t see the bridge crew being the bridge crew.” Because, we didn’t start with them as the bridge crew. We are doing a different Star Trek, which is to show how the became a bridge crew.

Watch Ted talk about that scene below.

Star Trek: Discovery is available on CBS All Access in the USA. It airs in Canada on the Space Channel and is available on Netflix outside the USA and Canada.

The action ramps up more than ever for what may be Discovery’s most exciting episode of the season. Jason Isaacs steals the show as Lorca, chewing up the scenery as he dominates the story throughout and in some surprising ways. The effects and stunt teams up their game, delivering more punches and explosions than we’ve seen since the two-part debut in September. And in what has been a pattern of late for the show, the twists keep coming, setting up the upcoming final two episodes of the season.

Just as he did in “Lethe,” writer Ted Sullivan digs into the lore of both the series and Star Trek as a whole, and even a bit of another franchise from a galaxy, far, far away. “What’s Past is Prologue” wraps up a few story lines and plays well with the serialized nature of the show with callbacks and character development. At the same time, there is also an interesting exploration of the theme of fate throughout along with some allegorical messages.

“What’s Past is Prologue” rewards fans who have been paying attention (or later binge the series) as this disco is spinning its greatest hits.

Jason Isaacs in “What’s Past is Prologue”

[SPOILERS BELOW]

I’m So Excited

After three episodes in the Mirror Universe, it was time to wrap things up and go for the big showdown and “What’s Past is Prologue” does not disappoint. It doesn’t even bother with a teaser, and just dives back in where last week left off. After the big reveal from “Vaulting Ambition,” it was clear that the now revealed “Mirror” Lorca has been orchestrating things all season long as part of an elaborate plan to get onto Emperor Georgiou’s ship and finish his revolution.

While Discovery likes to keep a lot of plates spinning in most episodes, often with A,B,C,D and more threads running, this time things were simple. We get three POVs, all of which were tied together: Lorca and his gang of Terran Empire rebels trying to take over the ISS Charon, Michael avoiding Lorca and seeking escape from the ISS Charon, and Saru and the crew of the USS Discovery seeking a way to get Burnham back and put this dark universe in their rear view mirror.

Was there a sale on agony booths at Evil Home Depot?

Macho Man

Lucky for Lorca, all his old friends were conveniently on board the ISS Charon, just ready to be decanted from their agony booths. Considering they were being tortured for almost two years, they seemed in good shape. We soon have a reunion with Rekha Sharma, now playing the Mirror Commander Landry, although it’s hard to distinguish her with her hard-ass (and thankfully dead) Starfleet counterpart. Rejecting her advice to withdraw, Lorca lets us all know he is the evil man, with the evil plan.

They are also soon reunited with Mirror Stamets, now out of his coma and hiding in his lab. It turns out evil Paul was part of Lorca’s revolution but finked to the Emperor. So, it was not a happy reunion. We also finally get a too-quick flashback, telling us the Lorca backstory. Turns out, while he was beaming up to the ISS Buran (while it was under attack by the ISS Charon) an ion storm caused a good, old-fashioned, universe-swap transporter malfunction, just like in “Mirror, Mirror.” Classic.

Whatever you do, don’t look behind you

Good thing this Stamets has a nasty bio weapon to smooth over the pain of his betrayal, and Lorca didn’t waste any time using it, killing much of the ISS Charon’s massive crew in a very gruesome way. But that’s apparently just how things are done in the Terran Empire, as he follows that up by asking the rest of the crew to join him.

In “Mirror, Mirror,” Kirk tells Mirror Spock “In every revolution, there is one man with a vision,” and Lorca certainly has a vision, made even more fervent now that he believes the hands of destiny and fate have saved him to rule. He delivers a too familiar sounding speech about the threat of aliens spilling over the border and vowing to “make the empire glorious again.” Star Trek has never shied away from political allegory, and this was just as subtle as a native of Cheron’s face.

Lorca also reveals that he doesn’t want a hair on Michael Burnham’s head touched. She, it seems, is also part of his destiny. This again shows how Discovery has been playing the long game all season, when you look back to how Lorca got Burnham out of prison and has been protecting her all along. His Burnham is dead, but apparently Michael Prime will serve very nicely as a replacement.

But where is the red hat?

Stayin’ Alive

As Lorca ramps up his revolution, Michael Burnham finds herself at the mercy of Emperor Georgiou. Perhaps due to nostalgia for her Captain Georgiou, Michael seems ready to join #TeamEmperor in this fight, offering advice on how to deal with Lorca. But Georgiou isn’t playing, reminding Michael “Your choices have determined your fate,” which was probably Burham’s first prison tattoo. In another moment that bookends with the two-part pilot, this Georgiou orders for Burnham to be sent to brig. The Emperor has more important things to deal with, notably capturing and killing Lorca personally.

This all results in the first of a number of elaborate fight scenes for the episode, with Sonequa Martin-Green again showing off some strong moves. She also shows off her research of the Terran Empire, as she borrows a guard’s personal agonizer to give him a time out. Michael then makes her escape, revealing the Terran Empire may have an exchange program with the Galactic Empire as the remaining guards trying to stop her showed off a lack of accuracy rivaled only by Imperial Stormtroopers.

Aren’t you supposed to ask before using someone’s agonizer?

We Are Family

Over on the good ship USS Discovery, things start out a lot more relaxed. We even get a nice little captain’s log from acting captain Saru. He gets us all back up to speed on the plot, reminding us Stamets is back, but his crop of Spore engine-powering space fungus is dead.

In a classic Treknobabble-laced exposition briefing, we learn the level of peril is much worse than imagined. That glowy orb at the center of the ISS Charon turns out to be a big ball of mycelial power drawn from the network, delivering huge amounts of power, allowing it to play Death Star and destroy planets. However, the inconvenient truth is revealed that this “shortsighted” generation of power is poisoning the network which will, astoundingly, kill every living thing in every universe, everywhere. That’s a lot of environment, in case you didn’t get the allegorical nail being hammered.

They seem calm for people talking about the end of all life everywhere

Eventually Burnham – hiding out in the ISS Charon’s evil Jefferies Tubes – makes contact and let’s them know Lorca is Mirror Lorca and they let her know that everyone, everywhere is going to die unless the Charon’s core is exploded. So, a plan is worked out for her to play Obi Wan and lower a containment field so the Discovery can play Luke Skywalker and come in to torpedo it.

After more of the crew get involved in working on a plan, it is revealed that the Discovery is going to have to use up all of its spores to take out the Charon and it won’t survive the resulting detonation. But Saru isn’t ready to give in. Doug Jones continues to impress as he donkey-kicks out a rousing speech about duty and working together on this newly-declared “maiden voyage” of the USS Discovery, sans Lorca. It was a wonderful Star Trek moment, referencing his ability to sense the coming of death as well as Starfleet Acadmey’s famed “no-win scenario,” which he refuses to accept.

The core of all evil

A follow-up scene has Tilly and Stamets come up with the solution to not only surviving the attack on the Charon, but also getting them home, something involving a surfing a wave on a warp bubble – how cool is that? The goal of the three previous episodes of using the data from the USS Defiant to get home is now clearly just a red herring used by Lorca to get onto the Emperor’s ship. Now that Stamets is awake, he says he can just reverse engineer Lorca’s data that got them into Mirror Universe to get them out. Easy peasy mycelium squeezy.

All the scenes on board the USS Discovery are a delight in this episode and are full of classic Star Trek feels. You have weird science, motivating rhetoric, and lots of teamwork, and all of that before you even get to the cool parts with the torpedoes firing. Sullivan also took the time to highlight more of the crew contributing, including Detmer, Owosekun, Rhys and Airiam.

If you are all here, who is flying the ship?

Love To Love You Baby

Eventually the Emperor and Lorca meet outside her throne room, but Georgiou appears to be unfazed, or maybe her confidence comes from her personal shield and emergency transport backup wristband. Regardless, Michelle Yeoh and Jason Isaacs have a good round of evil dialoguing before she escapes after a rather dull firefight.

Now in command of the throne room and ship, the usefulness of Mirror Stamets came to an end. Lorca pulls a Mr. Burns, opening a trapdoor in the floor, teasing evil Paul with the poetic nature of being thrown into his own mycelial creation. However, Lorca continues his metamorphosis into Bond-villain territory as he just has the mad scientist vaporized, exclaiming “I hate poetry.”

Let’s call this Chekhov’s Door for now

Lorca is now seen to be somewhat obsessed with Burnham. He continues to use the ship’s PA system to let her know he sees a connection with her as part of his fate to lead. Her mutiny is evidence to him that she should agree that the Federation is a “social experiment, doomed to failure.” He then said “You can destroy the Emperor…It is your destiny! Join me, and together, we can rule the galaxy.” OK, he didn’t say that last bit, but he might as well have.

Burnham disagrees as she goes to find Georgiou, hiding out and caressing the Terran Empire badge of her dead daughter. So, everyone carries badges of their lost loved ones and everyone is much obsessed with at least one Burnham.

For her part, Michael still seems to see her Captain Georgiou in this Emperor, and wants to make amends for her betrayal. The regret of her actions in the two-part pilot continue to haunt her and she uses that emotion to connect and convince the Emperor that together they can defeat Lorca. Why Michael so easily trusts this ruthless Georgiou is a bit perplexing. She seems to be projecting the memories of a dead counterpart, just like Lorca is doing with her. But all the scenes with Michelle Yeoh and Sonequa Martin-Green sell it anyway.

The ISS Charon has many shades of gloomy

Everybody Is Kung Fu Fighting

With a plan in place, it’s time for Burnham to use the Wookiee Prisoner Trick yet again, bringing Georgiou to the throne room to meet Lorca. She promises she will stay with him if he lets the USS Discovery go, but she also makes it clear “I’m offering you my mind, nothing more.” Ouch. Even the Mirror Universe has a friend zone. Lorca is so blinded by his hatred of the Emperor and faith for his shared destiny with Burnham, that he can’t see this is all some kind of trap and ups his bad guy parlance by telling Georgiou “Looks like you’re destined to be betrayed by Burnhams in every universe.”

Saru and the Discovery get a call and drop out of warp, where Lorca tells them how proud he is of the warriors they have become under his guidance. It’s almost touching until he calls the Federation a cult, but still kind of nice. Burnham chimes in to let Saru know that she is going to stay, but her saying “this is my place” turns out to be some kind of signal to start the epic action sequence.

You are all going to miss me

The Discovery opens fire on the Charon, things start exploding, and Michelle Yeoh reminds everyone that she has starred in quite a few Hong Kong action films. Even though it’s just Burnham and Georgiou versus Lorca, Landry and his whole army, the fight eventually narrows down to just a handful, helped by a couple of inexplicable moments, like Landry vaporizing a guy fighting Burnham just so she could fight Burnham, and Lorca knocking out Landry just so he can step in to take on Georgiou.

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Emperor

Finally, it comes down to just Burnham and Lorca. He hesitates because he doesn’t want to kill her (remember, he’s obsessed) and she gets the upper hand. In another classic Trek moment, she won’t kill him either, telling him he should have just asked for help to get home and it would have been given, adding “That’s who Starfleet is. It’s who I am.” This unveils the ultimate tragedy of Lorca. In a twist on the Shakespearean-inspired episode title, Lorca believes he understands Burnham’s past and it is a prologue to a choice for her to join him. But, he never really understood her. While her logic led her to a mutiny and she lost faith in herself, she never lost faith in the ideals of the Federation and Starfleet.

Unfortunately for Lorca, Georgiou is not Starfleet and she skewers him with her sword and throws him through that door in the floor and he gets disintegrated in a puff of super-villainy.

It’s just a flesh wound

Disco Inferno

Emperor Georgiou continues her transformation as she helps Burnham lower the core’s containment field and vows to sacrifice herself to allow Burnham and the Discovery time to destroy the core. But Michael isn’t done with this Georgiou yet, as she gives her a life-saving mid-transport hug, taking the Emperor with her back to the Discovery.

Saru and the USS Discovery continue their attack, destroying the Charon and its mycelial network-poising hub and – perhaps for the last time ever – going to Black Alert. The ship rides the wave as the mycelial network repairs itself, but Stamets struggles to find the right path home. The data from Lorca’s diversion into the Mirror Universe isn’t doing the trick, but the memory of Hugh Culber inserts itself, reminding him to seek out the clearing in the forest. And so the ship is literally saved through the power of love, as Paul says thanks to his late partner, who may or may not be alive in some way inside the network.

Hang a left at the next squiggly bit

There is one little extra beat here that seems significant, as one last tiny spore floats around the lab, landing on Tilly’s shoulder. Was this a callback to episode 3 where Stamets was introduced, swiping spores off his shoulder? Or perhaps is this spore the beginning of a whole new forest some day? It is unclear for now.

The effects throughout these final sequences are impressive, as they were throughout the episode. For a show set in space, shots of the ships have been too spare throughout the series, but this episode seemed to have the most ship action since “Battle at the Binary Stars.” The ship on a Star Trek show is always one of the characters and the USS Discovery put in a great performance in “What’s Past is Prologue.”

Time to go

We end the episode finding out that the Mirror Universe arc is over, but the season arc is not. Yes, Discovery has yet another twist. They are back in the Alpha Quadrant, but oops, Paul got the time wrong and they have missed nine months of the war and it appears, during that time, that the Federation sort of lost the war, with a map showing just a handful of planets left that are not under the control of the Klingons.

I, for one, welcome our new Klingon overlords

The Hustle

“What’s Past is Prologue” brings an end to Captain Gabriel Lorca. This character has been fascinating since being introduced in episode 3. Thanks to a layered performance by Jason Isaacs, Lorca has been mysterious and compelling and the focus of all sorts of theories, some of which turned out to be true. So, it’s going to be hard for some to say goodbye. It has been known since the beginning that the creators of Discovery are inspired by Game of Thrones and Lorca appears to be the Ned Stark of this series.

The message is clear – actions have consequences and there is real jeopardy on this show and all of that is good to see in a Star Trek series. However, this episode almost seemed to want to soften the blow by portraying Lorca as not just a dark and nuanced character, but profoundly evil to an almost cartoonish degree.

Discovery itself has shown that being from the Mirror Universe does not make a character nefarious – just look at Mirror Sarek, Saru and Voq. So, this final stage of Lorca’s portrayal was not a given, and perhaps not necessary. An irony of this episode is how it paid off the journey of the crew of the USS Discovery, now working together as a well-oiled machine. Saru says the ship is no longer Lorca’s, but isn’t Lorca the captain who put that machine together?

Some may revel in the over-the-top wickedness, and may see it as all part of his pattern from day one. Lorca never fit into Starfleet and now we know why. But I for one am going to miss Captain Lorca and would like to think that maybe the Federation could use a few men like him at times. I would like to think the intriguing character we were introduced to and explored throughout this season was genuine and not all just an act that has now been unmasked. Regardless, the exit Lorca and Isaacs will certainly leave a big hole in this show. Perhaps Michelle Yeoh’s expat Emperor Georgiou will be able to fill the void, but Lorca leaves behind a long shadow.

You will be missed

And The Beat Goes On

“What’s Past is Prologue” grabbed from the start and never let go, thanks to perfect pacing set by director Olatunde Osunsanmi. The episode was filled wall-to-wall with excellent performances, copious calls to the lore of the series and the franchise, compelling effects and more action than seen in the series to date.

Even with all of that going on, it still found time to deliver allegorical warnings about the environment, xenophobia and authoritarianism. Perhaps a bit preachy, but that’s nothing new with Trek. There was also a good amount of character development, especially moving the ball down field for Burnham’s journey of redemption. While we may be curious as to what’s going on with L’Rell and Tyler, this episode benefits by staying focused and leaving their story lines to be picked up later.

It is no surprise that Jason Isaacs’ time as Lorca has come to an end. A high profile actor like him was never likely to stick around for a series season after season, especially not in the lead part. He played his final bow with great relish and it was a lot of fun to watch but it might also have been a missed opportunity to end his arc in a more nuanced way.

While a very welcome and satisfying conclusion, it’s nice to finally put the Mirror Universe arc to an end, as the show probably spent one or even two episodes too long away from home. As if hanging a lantern on that, we now have the latest twist – because apparently you need one every episode now – that we missed the war and it was lost, or close to it.

There are just two episodes of Discovery‘s first season left. They have a lot to do if the Klingon arc is going to wrap up with the good guys winning and I can’t wait to see how they pull off that twist.

Must resist instinctual urge to run away, must resist instinctual urge to run away, must..

Random thoughts, connections, easter eggs

While evil, Mirror Landry still seemed nicer than Prime Landry.

Assuming Lorca Prime swapped in right before the ISS Buran was destroyed, he was killed shortly after arriving in the Mirror Universe, but you never know for sure.

Given the timeframe, it appears the Lorca swap happened before the war with the Klingons began.

Saru ponders why his threat ganglia didn’t warn him about Lorca. Which is a good question. Either it didn’t work, or maybe Lorca was never a threat to the crew of the USS Discovery.

There are a number of moments with bright light on the ISS Charon, but all the Terrans forgot they were sensitive to it.

One of the subtle ways this episode enhanced its classic Star Trek feel was use of old-fashioned 2D screen conversations instead of the newfangled holograms.

The activation of phasers on this show is really loud, making it hard to imagine they would be useful in a stealth situation.

The Terran phasers also only seem to have one setting: painfully vaporize.

It appears the Disco’s crew spent their time flying around in warp to do costume changes to get out of their Terran Empire disguises, including saying goodbye to Tilly’s “Captain Killy” straight hair.

The scene where Lorca’s troops are revealed in the corridor to the throne room (see clip below) was reminiscent of the Borg reveal in Star Trek: First Contact.

Clips

Star Trek: Discovery is available on CBS All Access on in the US and airs in Canada on the Space Channel. It is available on Netflix outside the USA and Canada.

]]>565TrekMovie.com Staffhttp://http://trekmovie.com/?p=534972018-01-28T20:48:28Z2018-01-28T20:00:43ZStar Trek: Discovery debuts its 13th episode tonight, the crew’s time in the Mirror Universe comes to a head.

Preview: “What’s Past Is Prologue”

Star Trek: Discovery – Season 1, Episode 13

Lorca plans to move forward with a coup against the Emperor, propelling Burnham to make a quick decision to save not only herself, but the U.S.S. Discovery.

The episode will be available in the US on CBS All Access at 8:30 pm ET (5:30 PT). In Canada it airs on the Space Channel at 8:00 pm ET (5:00 pm PT). And it will be available on Netflix outside the USA and Canada on Monday at 8 am BST.

Episode clip (warning: spoilers)

Photos

New photo from CBS:

Previously released photos:

Social media buzz

Just watched #13 of #StarTrekDiscovery and Holy McShitburgers, if it doesn't marry character, politics, treklore and kick-ass action in the most entertaining way then I'll give you all your money back. Just write to YouLyingSackOfShit@WhyDidIEverBelieveYou.com and ask for Donald. pic.twitter.com/FhlQ4mvHWr

#StarTrekDiscovery fam: of course you’re watching tonight. You’ll feel like a real asshole if you miss it. Questions answered! Massive assumptions from know-it-all fan base DEBUNKED! And stay tuned for After Trek where #113 @karterhol will explain all in his soothing baritone.

The next episode of #StarTrekDiscovery is directed by my friend, colleague and partner in crime @CenterWillHold. He's not only the greatest artistic partner I've ever known, he's one the key artistic voices behind the show. The franchise is lucky to have him. Just wait til Sunday pic.twitter.com/7WGUwhNb1o

After Trek also airs on Space in Canada at midnight ET and will be available on Netflix on Monday.

What say you?

TrekMovie will be posting a full review of “What’s Past Is Prologue” later. But you don’t have to wait to offer your views in the comments below.

]]>118TrekMovie.com Staffhttp://http://trekmovie.com/?p=534872018-01-27T22:31:59Z2018-01-27T22:31:59ZToday, Star Trek: Discovery co-executive producer again took his time waiting for a plane to answer some questions from fans on Twitter. We have pulled out some of the highlights below.

Fuller wanted to go mirror sooner

Discovery introduced a Mirror Universe arc in episode 10. Sullivan reveals that this idea wasn’t added after co-creator and original show-runner Bryan Fuller left the show and in fact, Fuller wanted to do it earlier.

Bryan Fuller always planned to go to Mirror in S1. When he left, we adjusted to make it happen later in the season because we wanted to live with the characters more

How Lorca got those scars

In the episode “Lethe” some scars were revealed on Lorca’s back, which are now revealed to be related to the hard life in the Terran Empire.

True…BUT… How about HAND AGONIZERS (which are pressed directly to the flesh)??? Plus… that straight scar looked A LOT like he was stabbed in the back by a dagger. You know… kinda like the one @SamVartholomeos tried to use on @SonequaMG in that elevator fight?

We’ll see more of engineering in Season 2

Much of season one has featured a set where Lt. Stamets controls the Spore drive, which also includes a glimpse into the warp drive. However, this is apparently not the main engineering section of the USS Discovery. The writer indicates we could see more of engineering and possibly the chief of engineering in the future.

Episode 13 of Star Trek: Discovery will be available on CBS All Access on Sunday, January 28th by 8:30 pm ET. It will air in Canada on the Space Channel at 8:00 pm ET the same day and be available on Netflix outside the USA and Canada on Monday, January 29th at 8 am GMT.

]]>52TrekMovie.com Staffhttp://http://trekmovie.com/?p=534882018-01-27T21:29:53Z2018-01-27T21:29:53ZThe sci-fi spoof Unbelievable!!!!!, featuring a cast full of Star Trek celebs, has announced they have added rapper and actor Snoop Dogg to the cast.

Unbelievable!!!!! follows the exploits of four astronauts (played by Garrett Wang, Chase Masterson Tim Russ and a Captain Kirk-like marionette) who go to the Moon on a rescue mission only to end up having to try to save the Earth from an alien invasion. Snoop Dogg joins as an executive producer, playing the part of “Major LeGrande Bushe,” opposite co-producer (and Star Trek icon) Nichelle Nichols.

Director Steven Fawcette, Snoop Dogg and Captain Kirk Stillwood

Unbelievable!!!!! has been in development since 2012. On the 50th Anniversary of Star Trek in September 2016 a”work-in-progress” early cut of Unbelievable!!!!! was privately screened for the cast, crew, investors and some fans.

It was also announced that actors Robert Davi, Sam Asghari and Casper Smart joined the cast of the sci-fi spoof. The film also stars previously announced cast members Michael Madsen and Gilbert Gottfried, introducing Katarina Van Derham, Producer/Actress/EP Angelique Fawcette, and Singer/Songwriter Emily L. Stanton.

The “Captain Kirk Stillwood” puppet was made by the Chiodo Brothers, who created all the Team America: World Police puppets.

The original score is written by Emmy-winning composer Gerald Fried, the last living composer from the original Star Trek series. You can a slide show of the scoring session with him below.

Unbelievable!!!!! is being made by husband and wife filmmakers, Writer/Director/EP Steven L. Fawcette and Producer/Actress/EP Angelique Fawcette, of Archangel Films.

According to the release, Unbelievable!!!!! will be released in early 2018. For more information visit the official site or Facebook page.

]]>14TrekMovie.com Staffhttp://http://trekmovie.com/?p=534812018-01-27T22:41:41Z2018-01-26T23:18:51ZThe Mirror Universe story comes to a head this Sunday in “What’s Past is Prologue” in a new clip from this weekend’s episode of Star Trek: Discovery featuring Mirror Lorca and his opposition to the Emperor.

Warning: Spoilers

Issacs loves the Mirror Lorca twist

Speaking of Mirror Lorca, today actor Jason Isaacs used “Flashback Friday” to remember the good times when Lorca was just the captain of the USS Discovery. Adding the “suckers” hashtag for everyone who fell for the ruse.

More TrekMovie coverage

Episode 13 of Star Trek: Discovery will be available on CBS All Access on Sunday, January 28th by 8:30 pm ET. It will air in Canada on the Space Channel at 8:00 pm ET the same day and be available on Netflix outside the USA and Canada on Monday, January 29th at 8 am GMT.